Lu Zongxiao ignored Zhu Biqiong. That alone spoke volumes.
"You know how the Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm works, Brother Lu. No one remembers what happened inside once they leave. Of course, I'm not saying that to shirk responsibility."
Jiang Wang carefully chose his words and spoke slowly. "I don't know what happened to my friend inside the secret realm. By some miracle, she came back from the dead. You gave her that chance, and I'm endlessly grateful to you. But no matter what, her entering and leaving the secret realm during its recovery period must have caused it a great deal of damage. So..."
He held out a glazed water urn in his left hand and a Dragon-Headed Cane in his right, offering them to Lu Zongxiao. "One is called the Cloud Dusk Urn. It can store water and sustain beasts. The other is called the Xing Si Staff, which can command beasts. Both are treasures useful to Outer Tower cultivators. Brother Lu, choose one. Let it serve as my initial compensation. It's a token of my sincerity. Once the Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm officially opens again and we know the full extent of the damage, I'll make up the rest."
If he admitted outright that the entire Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm had vanished, the reaction from Heavenly Mansion City and even Qi State was entirely predictable.
For the loss of a secret realm, everyone would have to bear responsibility: Zhu Biqiong, who had caused the accident; Jiang Wang, who had sent her into the secret realm; the friends who had helped him gain access; and even Lu Zongxiao himself, who had made the whole thing possible. Perhaps that was why a phantom of it still remained? Had Zhu Biqiong deliberately left behind an illusory shadow to avoid this sort