The woods were quiet.
Si Chen walked ahead, with Luo Qingyin half a step behind, quietly observing him.
She noticed that Si Chen walked very... methodically.
Every few steps, he stopped to examine the fallen leaves or scoop up a handful of soil.
Sometimes he looked up at the trees and reached out to feel the texture of their bark, or watched the clouds drifting slowly through the secret realm's illusions.
Luo Qingyin nodded inwardly.
As expected of Si Chen.
As expected of the Eastern Region's top-ranked cultivator.
His actions truly were unfathomable, every step concealing profound mysteries.
The sun, moon, and stars in this secret realm were all illusions, not physical objects. Ordinary people would find everything strange upon entering, yet fail to discern how any of it worked.
But Si Chen was different. He was clearly using these minute traces to deduce the laws governing the secret realm, perhaps even searching for the direction in which that Fortune Fruit might be hidden!
This was how a top cultivator ought to be.
Suddenly, Si Chen stopped and surveyed his surroundings.
Luo Qingyin held her breath.
He was about to make his judgment.
Si Chen raised a hand and pointed straight ahead, toward a particularly dense stretch of woods, his tone certain.
"This way."
Luo Qingyin immediately followed.
An incense stick's worth of time later.
The two stood in a familiar forest clearing.
Luo Qingyin stared blankly at the marks Black Mountain had left on the ground when he rolled over earlier.
Wasn't this where they had started? She turned to Si Chen.
His expression, however, remained unchanged.
Once again, he surveyed the surroundings, looked up at the sky, then down at the ground, and traced a few strokes through the air with his fingers.
Then he pointed in another