Early the next morning, all three of them woke up.
Nan Shang found himself lying in Lin Ke's arms.
His face instantly flushed scarlet.
He hurriedly got up and straightened his clothes, stammering, "Senior Brother Lin, I-I... I've practiced the Flawless Ice Jade Art since childhood."
"This cultivation technique requires an unimpeded divine soul and clean meridians, so I'm rather sensitive to poisonous fumes."
Zong Ya looked a little puzzled. "Isn't that a cultivation technique of the Jade Great Radiance Church?"
Hearing this, Nan Shang grew somewhat puzzled as well.
"That's right. I grew up in Shu Frontier, so why do I know this Cloud Frontier cultivation technique?"
Lin Ke's suspicions were confirmed, but he did not let Zong Ya ask further questions. This was not the time to investigate such matters.
He steered the conversation toward their current circumstances. "Our situation is rather unusual right now."
"I encountered members of the Imperial Clan while retrieving the Insect Jade."
"I discovered that they didn't enter the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm through the bottom of the Myriad Insect Abyss."
"They had another route, and no swarms of Bone-Eroding Insects lived in that passage."
Nan Shang asked in confusion, "Senior Brother Lin, why didn't they tell us about that route?"
"Why make us fight those swarms of Bone-Eroding Insects?"
Zong Ya's voice rang out coldly. "The Imperial Sovereign wants to weaken the sects of our Cloud Frontier, doesn't he?"
Lin Ke nodded.
Seeing this, Nan Shang understood as well.
"Then the Imperial Clan will definitely hunt down the other cultivators, won't they?"
"Even if they don't intend to hunt us down, they'll still secretly harm us inside this secret realm."
Lin Ke continued, "Yes. The Imperial Clan's cultivators are intercepting and killing cultivators outside the Myriad Layers Abyss."
"The three of us