Several days later.
Jade-Green Grotto Abode.
Several Late Qi Refinement disciples waited anxiously.
"I hear the master of Jade-Green Grotto Abode once served as acting hall master of Pill Island—and he's a Second-Order alchemy master..."
A handsome young Qi Refinement disciple glanced around, then lowered his voice. "That's a truly important figure, yet he's summoned us. We seem to have only one thing in common."
Another man, a middle-aged fellow dressed in black fighting clothes like a wandering swordsman, picked up the thought. "None of us has a Foundation Establishment elder backing us in the sect. We're all at Late Qi Refinement, and we all signed up for the secret realm mission."
At the Qi Refinement Eighth Layer, Xiang Dahu looked like a husky among these cultivators. He kept his mouth shut.
The disciples did not know him, much less that he was their host's servant.
"In that case, Martial Uncle must have a use for us."
A woman in an emerald dress smiled faintly, revealing shallow dimples.
"Indeed. The sect is letting us keep part of what we find. I suspect it's to spur the elders into arming us as thoroughly as possible."
The last woman wore leather armor that exposed broad swaths of skin and showed off her striking figure.
The others stirred at her words but did not disagree. It made perfect sense.
Besides, they were willing to be used.
The danger of this secret realm mission was enough to make them shudder just thinking about it.
If not for a chance at Foundation Establishment, nothing could have persuaded them to risk their lives.
As the five waited nervously, two figures approached.
One wore a blue robe. Young and gentle-eyed, he was Fang Qing.
The woman beside him wore a snow-white palace dress. Tall and poised, she