An incense stick later.
"Just outside is the area where the first barrier lies. Let's rest here a moment and go in once we're ready!"
As the bamboo before them grew sparser and the light outside grew brighter, Great Elder Lou suddenly called everyone to a halt.
Tap, tap, tap!
Amid a series of landing footsteps, everyone, including Xu Taiping, flew down one after another onto a clearing at the edge of the bamboo grove.
At the edge of the clearing, Xu Taiping even spotted an exquisitely built bamboo house.
Cloud Crane True Lord walked up to Xu Taiping then and introduced it with a smile:
"Young Master Wuyou, this bamboo house is where we rest and recuperate before entering the barrier."
Great Elder Lou came over as well, gazing at the little bamboo house with a wistful expression.
"Come to think of it, Pearl Relic House Master and his disciple built this bamboo house together."
Cloud Crane True Lord nodded.
"That's right. Back then, the two of them thought this was just an ordinary Secret Realm and even intended to use it as a cultivation Dao Field."
Hearing this, Xu Taiping turned his gaze toward Pearl Relic House Master and his disciple.
Pearl Relic House Master wore a stern expression, seemingly reprimanding Zhao Mou about something.
Zhao Mou stood to one side, listening with a very "obedient" expression.
Great Elder Lou also turned his gaze toward the master and disciple.
With his arms folded across his chest and a smile on his face, he continued:
"Zhao Mou was only in his twenties then, and his cultivation was only at the Spirit Refining Realm. Cutting down these Qingzhu stalks, far harder than wrought iron, was no easy task."
"But even so, to fulfill his master's orders, he spent over a