Secret Realm (4)

Even though the topic was explosive enough to ignite everyone's curiosity in an instant, they could not be allowed to keep digging into it.

After all, given the actual circumstances, they should not have known about their senior brother's situation. After a brief consideration and discussion, they quickly reached an agreement and decided to set off together to rendezvous with Lin Mumu.

They did not sit idle along the way either, continuing to devote themselves to Shen Yuxi and Wen Jian's grand spirit-plant enterprise.

Lin Huaixu had a discerning eye. Even if she did not recognize a spirit plant, she could spot the most valuable one at a glance. Ye Jingxuan, meanwhile, was more sensitive to the spiritual-energy fluctuations emitted by spirit plants and could always accurately locate their hiding places.

What was more, both of them possessed considerable combat strength. With their addition, their efficiency rose dramatically, like a tiger that had grown wings.

Although Ye Jingxuan and Lin Huaixu had acted as free labor during this process, neither of them had any complaints.

Most of the spirit plants they found had to be handed over to the sect anyway. Their bond as fellow disciples ran deep, so there was no need to haggle over such trifles. If there was any spirit plant one of them particularly wanted, they only needed to mention it, and their fellow disciples would not be stingy.

During the time they traveled together, Ye Jingxuan and Lin Huaixu increasingly realized just how astonishingly efficient Shen Yuxi was at leading the way. Every step he took seemed precisely calculated, and he appeared to know every corner of this secret realm as well as his own backyard.

That discovery planted seeds of doubt in their hearts, and they could not help but mutter to themselves.

Without prior agreement, they both turned questioning gazes toward Wen Jian, their eyes brimming with curiosity and confusion. Seeing the looks on their faces, Wen Jian gave a helpless, bitter smile and nodded lightly, confirming the vague suspicion rising in their hearts.

After receiving Wen Jian's response, Ye Jingxuan and Lin Huaixu were only surprised for a brief moment before returning to normal. By now, they had gradually begun accepting the premise that their second senior brother knew everything.

They had entered this secret realm at night. As they raced against time to search for spirit plants and hurry onward, time slipped away unnoticed.

When everyone came back to their senses and counted on their fingers, nearly thirty shichen had already passed.

At last, in a valley rich with spiritual energy, the group found Lin Mumu.

The scene before them stood in the sharpest possible contrast to their own somewhat bedraggled appearance.

Lin Mumu was surrounded by a crowd as though stars encircled the moon, like an incomparably noble little princess. Every person around her wore a fawning smile, showering her with praise and respect. Whether it was a subtle need she let slip in conversation or a direct request, it was always fulfilled in the shortest possible time.

The sight left Shen Yuxi and the others dumbfounded, their hearts filled with amazement.

Lin Huaixu stopped a disciple and, after questioning him, finally learned what had happened.

It turned out that the commotion caused last night when that eagle-shaped demonic beast had madly pursued Shen Yuxi and Wen Jian had been far too great. It had charged recklessly all the way, knocking trees askew wherever it passed, while its roars rolled out like muffled thunder.

The disturbance had awakened countless other demonic beasts hiding in the darkness. Sensing the powerful aura radiating from the eagle-shaped demonic beast, they were immediately terrified, as though disaster were bearing down upon them, and fled frantically from their territories.

More and more of those panicked demonic beasts gathered together, and driven by chaos and fear, they inadvertently formed a small beast tide.

Though this beast tide was not enormous compared to a true beast tide, for these disciples, most of whom were still in the Foundation Establishment Realm, it was no less than a catastrophe that could capsize the heavens and bury the earth.

Their cultivation was limited. Faced with the surging beast tide, they had no way to handle it at all, and every heart was filled with despair and fear.

Fortunately, at the critical moment when a thousand pounds hung by a single thread, Lin Mumu stepped forward. Her sword was best suited for group attacks, and fighting one against many came as easily as turning her hand over. Through her determined resistance, she successfully restrained the demonic beasts and bought precious time for everyone else to retreat.

Only after everyone had safely withdrawn did she rely on her superb swordsmanship to emerge unscathed from the beast tide.

After that battle, everyone admired Lin Mumu's strength so deeply they prostrated themselves in wholehearted conviction. Naturally, she became the leader of this small team.

"I really don't know which damned bastard provoked such a vicious beast! We got dragged into this for nothing!" the questioned disciple said bitterly, his face full of indignation.

Hearing that, Wen Jian could not help feeling somewhat guilty and instinctively looked away. Shen Yuxi, however, looked entirely righteous and self-assured. He listened to the disciple's complaints as if nothing had happened, without the slightest trace of guilt on his face.

Noticing Wen Jian's gaze, Shen Yuxi tilted his head slightly and said in a calm, low voice, "It wasn't us."

That was truly rather thick-skinned. After all, they had indeed been the source of the eagle-shaped demonic beast's pursuit. Yet it also woke Wen Jian up. He suddenly came back to himself, considered it carefully, and felt the clouds part to reveal the sun.

That was right! Tracing it back to the source, the true culprit behind all this was clearly that gray-robed disciple!

If that gray-robed disciple had not rashly caused an explosion while trying to seize the sapling, drawing the eagle-shaped demonic beast's attention, the two of them could have obtained the sapling without a sound and concealed their auras in time.

Then the eagle-shaped demonic beast would never have pursued them relentlessly, forcing them to flee all the way and triggering this entire chain of trouble afterward!

Even so, Wen Jian was not like Shen Yuxi, capable of facing all this with such composure. Although he had already understood that the root of the matter lay with the gray-robed disciple, he still could not quite get over it.

Shen Yuxi immediately saw the conflict and struggle in Wen Jian's heart. He lightly patted Wen Jian's shoulder and said again in a low voice, "This is a secret realm."

Wen Jian understood Shen Yuxi's unspoken meaning.

Within a secret realm, the weak were prey to the strong, and only the fit survived. Everyone fought with all their strength for their own opportunities; all manner of accidents and conflicts were impossible to avoid.

They had not deliberately intended to provoke the eagle-shaped demonic beast. It had all merely been an accidental chain reaction in the struggle for resources. Therefore, they did not need to shoulder too much psychological burden over this unforeseeable twist.

Wen Jian nodded, though a thorn still took root in his heart.

There was not much time left before the secret realm closed.

This small team had been completely thrown into disarray by the sudden beast tide and had suffered grievous losses. The fear of having survived a calamity was still clearly written across every face, and their eyes remained full of lingering terror.

At this moment, they no longer had the mood to continue treasure-hunting in this perilous secret realm. After all, heaven and earth might be vast, but life was the most important thing of all. Without life, everything else was merely flowers in a mirror and the moon in water.

Lin Mumu had never been particularly invested in treasure-hunting to begin with. More importantly, while Shen Yuxi and Wen Jian had been talking just now, Lin Huaixu had already told Lin Mumu every last detail about how this secret realm could only be opened by activating the mechanism in the stone chamber.

Lin Huaixu explained everything in detail, and Lin Mumu listened attentively. When she finished, Lin Huaixu summed up, "In short, all we need to do now is wait quietly for Eldest Senior Brother to activate the mechanism."

"Eldest Senior Brother? But..." Lin Mumu's delicate brows drew together slightly, and a trace of confusion appeared on her exquisite face. She seemed about to say something when footsteps suddenly sounded in the distance.

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw several figures striding over from afar. The man at the front wore black robes that fluttered gently in the breeze, making his upright figure seem all the more like a towering peak, extraordinary in bearing.

His expression was steady, his features hard and chiseled as though carved from ore, carrying an imposing aura that inspired awe without anger.

—Who else could it be but Chu Shihan?

From afar, Chu Shihan spotted the figures of several junior disciples, and his heart eased slightly at once. In the secret realm, being able to reunite with fellow sect members was ultimately a good thing. He quickened his pace and swiftly approached them.

Chu Shihan had seen the figures of several junior disciples from afar and felt somewhat reassured. Once he came closer, he keenly noticed that everyone's clothes were somewhat torn, clearly evidence that they had been through a fierce battle.

Concern rose in his heart, and he asked about their situation without hesitation. "Did you encounter some danger?"

Yet the entire group stared at him with strange expressions. Their gazes held confusion, curiosity, and even a few traces of indescribable teasing. Those unusual looks left Chu Shihan thoroughly puzzled, unable to make heads or tails of it.

Shen Yuxi in particular seemed to ignite the instant he saw Chu Shihan appear and caught sight of Gu Yueyao returning with him.

A chill unconsciously radiated from his body, as if the surrounding air had dropped several degrees. It made people instinctively want to retreat three paces from him.

And deep in his heart, an almost roaring cry erupted. Shouldn't you two be lovey-dovey in the stone chamber right now?! What are you doing here joining the fun?!

What he had once considered certain had veered off course, leaving him both surprised and somewhat torn between laughter and tears.

Chu Shihan felt uncomfortable under everyone's gazes, and hearing Shen Yuxi's inexplicable outcry only made him more bewildered. His face was full of question marks, and his eyes brimmed with confusion.

Seeing his utterly baffled expression, Lin Huaixu was the first to react. She gave a light cough, breaking the slightly odd atmosphere, and took the lead in asking about Chu Shihan's experiences in the secret realm.

Chu Shihan slowly began to recount, in full detail, everything he had seen, heard, and experienced in the secret realm over the past two days.

He still remembered the moment he entered the secret realm. The surrounding space seemed to twist in an instant, and amid flickering light, he and Gu Yueyao were trapped together in a stone chamber.

At first glance, the stone chamber did not seem large, yet its four walls carried a strange sheen. Only upon closer inspection did they realize it seemed to have been meticulously pieced together from countless ores of different shapes.

The ores each reflected light of different hues, some bright and some dim, some cold and some warm. Those lights intertwined and reflected one another, as dazzling as blooming flowers, intoxicating the eye.

The ore surfaces were as smooth as mirrors, clearly reflecting their slightly startled faces.

The ground was completely covered in vine leaves. Between the layers of leaves, thick enough to cover their feet, unknown little blue flowers quietly bloomed.

Each tiny flower had four petals and measured no more than an inch across. Small and exquisite, they faintly emitted a blue glow. The edges of their petals had a translucent texture, like four drops of pure water artfully joined together, tender and ready to drip, as though a gentle touch would send droplets rolling down.

When a soft breeze passed through, the flowers seemed like sprites breaking free of their bonds. They detached from their stems one after another and drifted down leisurely, like a blue rain of flowers played in slow motion.

Wherever that flower rain fell, it illuminated the entire stone chamber like a dreamlike immortal realm, filling every inch of space with poetry and romance.

Yet beneath that picturesque beauty, the stone chamber exuded an indescribable aura.

That aura was not oppressive. On the contrary, when first encountered, it carried a hint of warmth, like a gentle spring breeze brushing across one's face. But upon closer perception, one could detect a faint threat beneath that warmth, as though invisible eyes were watching them from the shadows.

After their brief shock, the two trapped in the stone chamber quickly calmed down. They immediately began searching every corner of the chamber for an exit.

Chu Shihan and Gu Yueyao traced the walls of the stone chamber inch by inch, overlooking no tiny crack. Even a line as thin as a strand of hair might conceal a crucial clue for escaping this place.

Several times during this process, they accidentally triggered mechanisms. Whenever one activated, a deep rumble would sound through the chamber without warning, like muffled war drums pounding heavily against their hearts and instantly tightening their nerves.

At times, several sharp arrows gleaming with icy light would shoot out like raindrops from hidden holes in the walls. Those arrows were incredibly fast, tearing through the air with piercing whistles as they flew directly toward them.

No one knew what hidden mysteries those arrows contained, but their power far surpassed anything ordinary. They could easily pierce protective spiritual energy, leaving Chu Shihan and Gu Yueyao to rely on their agile movements and profound cultivation, either blocking or dodging them. One moment of carelessness could have left them struck by an arrow and their lives in danger.

At other times, the ground would suddenly split without warning, exposing bottomless ravines. Thorny vines black as ink emerged from within, writhing as though alive and spreading toward them, trying to drag them into an endless abyss of darkness.

Even more terrifyingly, the seemingly beautiful sea of flowers would suddenly transform into vicious flower demons, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws as they attacked the two. These flower demons came in all forms. Some had petals sharp as blades that danced in the wind and sliced through the air; others spewed pungent smoke from their stamens, leaving people dizzy and disoriented.

Danger lurked at every turn in the stone chamber, and each incident had placed them on the brink of death.

Chu Shihan had not intended to recount every dangerous detail they encountered in the stone chamber to his junior brothers and sisters.

Those experiences had been too perilous. There was no need to make his junior brothers and sisters worry along with him. As he spoke, he repeatedly tried to gloss over them, mentioning a few lines lightly before moving on.

But Shen Yuxi, standing beside him, seemed determined to compete with him. Whenever Chu Shihan tried to simplify something, Shen Yuxi would silently fill in the details in his heart, then vividly "tell" their junior brothers and sisters every last terrifying part.

Oh, those were Spirit-Devouring Arrows produced by Tianji Pavilion. It wasn't as simple as protective spiritual energy being useless. They contained Tianji Pavilion's unique secret art. Once activated, they continuously devoured spiritual energy to strengthen themselves. The deeper the target's protective spiritual energy, the stronger their piercing power.

Getting hit by one of those would be disastrous. All the spiritual energy in your body would be drained in an instant, turning you alive into a shriveled mummy.

The power of those things was closely tied to the cultivator who activated them. The ones in this secret realm should have been preset, so Eldest Senior Brother's cultivation would keep him from dying to a single arrow. As for the Young Valley Master, that might not be the case.

Black thorns? Oh, Ghost Bramble. Those are incredibly difficult to deal with. Ordinary methods are completely useless against them. Slashing them with swords is like scratching an itch—not only can't you cut them apart, it provokes them, and the more you cut, the more they grow.

Ghost Bramble was bloodthirsty by nature. Once it sensed the aura of a living creature nearby, it would attack like mad.

Its thorns were poisonous too. The poison damaged spiritual roots. If you were accidentally poisoned and your spiritual roots were damaged, your future path of cultivation would be ruined. Unless you had powerful spirit fire to burn it into ashes, you could only watch helplessly as it ran rampant before you, completely unable to do anything.

After Shen Yuxi's "addition," the relaxed expressions of the junior brothers and sisters immediately turned solemn, and concern filled their faces.

They looked at Chu Shihan with eyes full of worry and heartache, as if they could truly feel the dangers their senior brother had faced.

Noticing the change in his junior brothers' and sisters' expressions, Chu Shihan shot Shen Yuxi a look that was both annoyed and amused, yet he could do nothing about it.

Nine Domains Encyclopedia:

○ Tianji Pavilion

Skilled in mechanisms, puppets, and concealed weapons.

Its headquarters was located in the Silent Night Dark Domain, though no one knew its exact whereabouts.

It had agency branches throughout the Nine Domains and was highly skilled at forging. However, it always liked to add countless clever little touches, causing the price to inexplicably rise during production. All of them were useful. But they went over budget.

It was not recommended for cultivators who only wanted a fair and honorable duel to commission weapons from Tianji Pavilion. They would absolutely end up with a whole pile of underhanded tricks.

○ Spirit-Devouring Arrow

Produced by Tianji Pavilion. Expensive, and custom orders required full payment in advance.

They contained Tianji Pavilion's unique secret art. Once activated, they continuously devoured the external spiritual energy they came into contact with to strengthen themselves. They were usually stored in specially made matching wooden boxes.

When activated, they would actively devour protective spiritual energy and strengthen themselves upon contact. Thus, the deeper the opponent's spiritual energy, the stronger their piercing power. If they struck someone, all the spiritual energy in that person's body would be uncontrollably drained away.

Their power was closely tied to the cultivation of the person who activated them and was also affected by the strength of the target. They worked best when the difference in strength was within one major realm; if the gap was too great, the user could easily be killed instead. (Buying in bulk was another matter.)

As long as the money was sufficient and there was enough spiritual energy—spiritual energy from artifacts would work too—in theory, Foundation Establishment cultivators could directly take on Nascent Soul cultivators. (Advertising slogan. Actual product specifications prevailed.)

Complete Compendium of Spirit Herbs:

○ Ghost Bramble

A plant that grew in heaps of corpses, drawing nourishment from dead bodies to mature.

Bloodthirsty by nature, it would immediately attack once it sensed the aura of a living creature nearby.

Its vitality was tenacious, and it was almost immune to physical attacks. Damage caused purely by spiritual energy was limited, while blades, spears, staffs, and swords would only make it multiply the more they were used. It could only be dealt with using spell attacks.

Its thorns were poisonous and would damage spiritual roots and meridians. Its weaknesses were fire and lightning; only burning it completely into ashes could solve the problem once and for all. It was not wood-attributed itself, so it possessed some resistance to spirit fire. Only powerful spirit fire could inflict sufficient damage.

Once it received enough nourishment, it would bloom. At the same time, because all its nourishment concentrated in the flowers, the bramble itself would rapidly wither away.

Ghost Bramble Flower was also known as "Ghost Maiden." Its main body was fragile and had lost its powerful vitality, while its floral fragrance carried the same poison as its thorns. This was also Ghost Bramble Flower's only means of protection.

○ Yingkong

A tenacious vine-leaf plant that would grow through every crack it could find. The vine leaves were merely ordinary plants; only the flowers could be used as medicine.

The flowers were tiny. Each had four petals and measured no more than an inch across, small and exquisite. Only in darkness could one see the faint blue fluorescence they emitted.

The blue deepened closer to the stamens, while the petal edges had a translucent texture, like four drops of pure water joined together.

After Yingkong flowers bloomed, any passing breeze would detach them from their stems and send them dancing in the wind. Flowers that left their stems quickly withered, their medicinal potency dispersing.

A universal buff. Restored health, restored spiritual energy, removed control effects, and detoxified—all in one. An out-of-print spirit flower that only grew in the Three-Heavens Secret Realm. The Sky Ruins Illusory Domain had attempted to transplant it. Though the vine leaves transplanted successfully, they simply would not flower. Nor could they be used as medicine.