Teaching Her a Lesson?

Bai Lan raised an eyebrow, barely holding back a laugh.

Teaching her a lesson?

That was pretty good. She did not mind adding a few more wounds to Le Qing while collecting her debt.

"Wuwuwu, I knew Senior Brother Le treated me the best!" Bai Ling's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at Le Qing with gratitude.

Le Qing gave an awkward smile and scratched his head. "Ahem, Junior Sister, hurry and treat your injuries. Your senior brother... will stand guard for you. The Nine Yin Secret Realm is ever-changing and full of twists and turns; we cannot stay in one place for too long."

Just as Bai Lan had guessed, Bai Ling's luck truly defied the heavens.

She followed behind Bai Ling in hiding, and by dusk on the second day, Bai Ling had stumbled by sheer chance upon the place where the opportunity described in the plot lay.

There were pavilions, towers, and other buildings within the secret realm. The place where the opportunity lay was an Eight-sided Glazed Pagoda built in a corner. Compared to the other buildings with painted beams and carved rafters, this tower was indeed rather plain and unremarkable.

Yet driven by luck, Bai Ling still became interested in it and wanted to enter to investigate.

Bai Lan knew that Bai Ling would obtain the complete inheritance of an ancient alchemist here. Her accomplishments in the path of alchemy would likewise become her greatest aid on her future path of cultivation.

After recording the location, Bai Lan decisively loaded her save and turned time back to the very beginning.

This time, however, she no longer needed to follow Bai Ling and could head straight for the place where the opportunity lay.

In only half a day, with Bai Lan traveling without pause, she followed the memories from her previous run and arrived before the Eight-sided Glazed Pagoda.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Bai Ling was still in a cave tearfully recounting her miserable experience to Le Qing.

Save.

"System, I have a task for you." Bai Lan turned her head toward the system.

The system froze. "W-what task?"

"I'll explore the secret realm alone. You go track Long Aotian and report his situation to me in real time. Make sure no one gets there first and takes the other opportunity." Bai Lan patted the system's shoulder.

The system's eyes widened. "Huh? M-me, alone?"

"Who else? If you do not want to go alone, I can pull the corpse from the Void Stone out and have it go with you." Bai Lan spread her hands helplessly.

Qiu Tian, lying in a coffin inside the Void Stone with Corpse-Raising Spots, suddenly sneezed.

The system scratched his head. "Fine, I'll go. Just don't make that Corpse Puppet follow me. It gives me the creeps..."

What Bai Lan worried about most was whether there would be an illusion realm inside this tower. Based on her intuition—

Among the trials that tested people in the cultivation world, illusion realms appeared with exceptionally high frequency.

This little cutie of a system without a firewall installed might fall for it one hundred percent if he encountered an illusion realm.

He was like a child who could be lured away by a bad person with a single piece of candy—utterly innocent.

It was more suitable for her to tackle something as difficult as an illusion trial alone. Keeping the system by her side would instead make him a burden.

After sending off the reluctant system, Bai Lan took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward to push open the tower door.

The Eight-sided Glazed Pagoda looked incredibly small and exquisite from the outside, but once she entered, she discovered that there was a whole universe within.

Outside, it was a small, drab gray tower. Inside, it was actually a grand hall.

The instant Bai Lan stepped into the hall, the door behind her slowly closed.

Fortunately, Bai Lan had saved just now, so she was not panicked in the slightest.

She continued to calmly survey the scene within the hall.

If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead—it may simply have been renamed!

"Who are you, and why have you trespassed into this place?"

An old man's deep, lingering voice seemed to come from afar.

Generally speaking, anyone whose voice came with its own echo was an expert.

Bai Lan fell silent for a moment, then shook her head with a laugh. She clasped her hands toward the direction of the voice. "Senior, there is no need to put on an act before this junior. Was this secret realm not created by you? Opening the Nine Yin Secret Realm for later generations to undergo trials—was that not your intention?"

In truth, the old man had known from the beginning that Qi Refining stage disciples came here every year for trials.

Nonsense like "Who are you, and why have you trespassed into this place?" was all said by the old man to make himself seem more impressive. He had even added echo effects to his own voice.

The skeletal old man beneath the cliff had used the same trick. Bai Lan was already thoroughly familiar with the routines of these thousand-year-old antiques.

Having had his trick exposed by Bai Lan, that voice seemed somewhat embarrassed and fell into eternal silence.

"Since you opened this secret realm for later generations to undergo trials, you must have your own purpose. Why don't you and I throw open the skylight and speak plainly?" Bai Lan smiled faintly and went straight to the point.

She had a god's-eye view and knew everything related to the Child of Destiny. Since Bai Ling had obtained the opportunity in this secret realm, Bai Lan naturally knew the background of the old man before her as well.

"Who exactly are you?! Could it be that some old ghost has possessed your body? State your name and let this venerable one hear it." The old man spoke coldly, no longer putting on that affected manner of speech.

Bai Lan helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead.

Why did everyone think someone had possessed her?

"Whether this junior has been possessed can be determined with a single examination, Senior." Bai Lan spread her hands, her tone open and frank. "Besides, whether I have been possessed is not important. What matters is that I came here because I wish to share Senior's burdens and resolve your difficulties."

The old man gritted his teeth. "Bah! Share this old man's burdens and resolve my difficulties? You brat came for the opportunity here, didn't you?"

"Senior jests. Of the cultivators who come here, who is not here for an opportunity?"

If it were not for that illusory opportunity, no one would foolishly come to such a dangerous place to throw away their life.

"Hmph." The old man snorted coldly.

A figure slowly appeared within the resplendent, gold-and-jade hall. Leaning on a cane, the old man walked up to Bai Lan and looked her over from head to toe. Then he suddenly smiled. "You truly are a special little brat. The cultivation art you practice is the Chaos Yin Yang Art, is it not?"

"Senior truly possesses extraordinary strength, to recognize even the cultivation art this junior practices." Bai Lan smiled lightly.

"Junior, are you not afraid that this old man will possess you?" The old man gave a malicious smile and suddenly appeared behind Bai Lan, attempting to frighten her.

Bai Lan remained calm. "Senior may try."

If he tried, she would just load her save. No panic—absolutely no panic.

The old man had wanted to glimpse some other expression on Bai Lan's unflappable face, yet he had not expected her to fear not even possession.

"..."

"This old man truly cannot possess you." The old man's expression was indifferent, having lost all interest in fooling around.

A cultivator could only possess another body once in their lifetime. What the old man meant was obvious: he had once voluntarily possessed someone and occupied that person's body for cultivation.

Thus, he no longer had another chance to possess anyone else.

Yet even so, he had still failed to find the Great Dao and had ultimately fallen here.

Bai Lan's expression did not change. In their pursuit of immortality, how many cultivators resorted to every possible means?

The old man before her was certainly no good person, but his past had nothing to do with Bai Lan.

But the opportunity possessed by the old man before her had everything to do with her!

Who would ever pick a fight with an opportunity made of Spirit Stones?!