The Secret Realm was drawing ever closer to its closing time.
Disciples kept appearing out of nowhere in the square.
But fewer and fewer people appeared.
After all, no one would wait until the very last moment to leave.
Finally, when the time came for the Secret Realm to close, eighteen guards in golden Daoist Robes took up positions at the entrance to its formation.
"Everyone... the Secret Realm is now closed. Please leave at once!"
Dozens of sects and over a hundred lineages departed aboard their own Flying Boats, one after another.
Heavenly Talisman Mountain was no exception.
In the end, the Great Void Sect's boat was the only one in the entire square that had yet to depart.
"Come now, Martial Nephew Jade Virtue, it's time we left!" Xuan Yang, a Golden Core Stage elder, looked at Jade Virtue and said, "Anyone entering this Secret Realm risks an accident. That girl Linglong met with misfortune, and no one can be blamed for that. You can't keep making this old man wait here forever!"
"Please go back first, Elder. I'll stay here and wait by myself!"
Jade Virtue still refused to give up.
Of course he knew Linglong was gone. He was waiting for He Pingsheng.
Yet he had not caught so much as a glimpse of He Pingsheng the entire time.
"Very well!" Xuan Yang waved a hand, set the Flying Boat in motion, and departed.
Jade Virtue was left alone in the vast square.
He believed He Pingsheng must have been too afraid of him to come out.
It was fine if he was afraid to come out, but he would have to emerge eventually. If he stayed inside until the guards patrolling the Secret Realm entered, death would be his only way out.
But Jade Virtue