Leaving the secret realm

With less than an hour left before the secret realm closed, everyone simply stopped exploring and rested where they were. A heavy silence hung between them.

This was especially true of the Kunlun Sect group. Their leader, Yan Changxi, had fallen unconscious, while the brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Qizhi had seen everyone as a potential killer since Zhang Hongzhi's death and remained on the verge of going berserk.

Xue Fuyao looked at the two, a flicker of regret passing through her eyes. She had originally wanted to trip them up herself, but plans simply could not keep pace with change.

Ye Qinxuan and Ye Qinfei were nowhere to be seen. The sisters were probably still being chased by the swarm of golden bees. She wondered how they were doing now.

"Senior Sister, are you all right? I still have some pills Master gave me. Take them." Xue Fuyao took out the pills and offered them to Gu Nian.

Gu Nian accepted without standing on ceremony. The spiritual energy in the Qingfeng Secret Realm was unusual. Those injured here could not circulate their energy to heal and could only rely on the pills they had brought in. Even depleted spiritual energy could not be restored through meditation; that, too, required pills.

Xue Fuyao did not ask about the Divine Spirit Fruit. For one thing, it was not something a junior sister like her should ask about, and she needed to avoid suspicion. For another, they were in public, and asking such a question outright would make her seem rather dim-witted.

Even if she wanted to ask, she would have to do it in private.

Half an hour passed quickly in silence, and Xue Fuyao and the others were forcibly ejected from the secret realm.

By then, quite a crowd had gathered outside. The sect masters of the Yuanji Sect and the Kunlun Sect had both arrived with numerous elders.

Clearly, Gu Nian and the people from the Kunlun Sect had already used special means to report everything that had happened in the Qingfeng Secret Realm to their sects. That was why so many of them had come.

After all, the Yuanji Sect and the Kunlun Sect had searched for the Divine Spirit Fruit for so many years without finding a trace. Now that it had suddenly appeared, they were bound to take it very seriously.

"Master, I have failed your teachings and did not bring back the Divine Spirit Fruit." Gu Nian dropped to one knee and cupped her fists, her voice filled with guilt.

Seeing this, Sect Master Xiao Fansheng said gravely, "Niannian, get up. This wasn't your fault."

He had already learned from the reports the disciples sent back that, although they had not brought back the whole Divine Spirit Fruit, Gu Nian had managed to snatch half of it from those monster beasts. That was no small gain.

Not to mention the large quantities of spirit medicine.

Gu Nian rose at his words and led the Yuanji Sect disciples back to their sect's party.

Once Xiao Fansheng saw that all the disciples were present, he said to the Kunlun Sect's sect master, "Sect Master Qian, we'll take our leave first. Some of our disciples are injured, and I'm anxious to get them back for treatment. I imagine you feel the same."

The Kunlun Sect's sect master nodded with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Just then, a cold shout suddenly rang out. "Stop!"

A small, stooped old man with a graying beard but sharp eyes suddenly stepped out of the crowd.

Xue Fuyao immediately recognized him as one of the Zhang Family's elders, as well as the triplets' grandfather.

He had learned that his grandson's soul lamp had gone out and had come to demand answers.

As everyone's gazes settled on him, the old man said coldly, "My grandson cannot die for nothing! The Yuanji Sect and the Kunlun Sect must give the Zhang Family an explanation today. Hand over the murderer!"

"Idiot."

Gu Nian's gaze turned exceptionally cold as she watched the old man spout his outrageous demands. In her view, the Zhang Family's decision to confront them publicly was utterly foolish.

Especially when they had no evidence whatsoever and were relying on nothing but conjecture.

It would have been one thing if the Zhang Family had enough strength to threaten the Yuanji Sect and the Kunlun Sect. The problem was that they did not.

As a sect master, Xiao Fansheng showed the Zhang Family elder no courtesy at all. He simply said to the Kunlun Sect's sect master, "You created this trouble yourselves. Deal with it yourselves."

Sect Master Qian's already strained smile grew even more strained. Looking at the Zhang Family elder, he said, "Elder Zhang, secret realms are full of dangers to begin with. Encountering danger is inevitable. How can you declare so categorically that someone was responsible? If everyone behaved as you do, the entire Cultivation Realm would never know peace!

"Enough. I'll put what you just said down to confusion from having just lost your grandson. Don't drag others into this so recklessly again."

With those words, he settled the matter outright.

Watching this, Xue Fuyao's eyes flashed with satisfaction. Zhang Family, just you wait. This is only the beginning.

On the way back, Xue Fuyao sought out her master to ask about a Portable Medicinal Garden.

"You want a Portable Medicinal Garden? Those aren't easy to come by," Xie Yichu said.

Xue Fuyao nodded. "Exactly, exactly! That's why I came to ask you."

Taking advantage of her young age, Xue Fuyao sidled clingily up to Xie Yichu and looked at him with sparkling eyes.

Xie Yichu grew a little uncomfortable under her gaze. He cleared his throat and said, "If you want a Portable Medicinal Garden, you can commission one at Artifact Refining Peak, but that would take quite some time. You probably can't wait that long. I recall that the peak master of Spirit Medicine Peak has one, and she posted a mission with the sect that offers that Portable Medicinal Garden as its reward."

Xue Fuyao's eyes lit up. She really had worn through iron shoes searching in vain, only to find it without the slightest effort. Still, she asked what exactly the mission involved.

For the distinguished peak master of Spirit Medicine Peak to offer a Portable Medicinal Garden as a reward, the mission surely could not be simple.

Xie Yichu thought back carefully and said, "The peak master of Spirit Medicine Peak is surnamed Tan. Many years ago, he fell in love with a mortal woman, but later had to leave because of the sect. That mortal woman bore him a daughter and soon died from complications in childbirth. Only recently did he learn that he had a daughter, and he found her and brought her back.

"However, his daughter inherited her mother's constitution. Not only does she have no talent whatsoever, but her disposition and comprehension are both extremely poor.

"Elder Tan wanted to reform his daughter's Spiritual Root first and set her on the path of cultivation, so he offered the Portable Medicinal Garden in exchange for a thousand-year-old stalk of root-reforming grass."

In fact, before her master was even halfway through, Xue Fuyao already knew exactly whom he was talking about.

That girl was indeed Elder Tan's daughter, but what he did not know was that the woman had given birth to twins. The elder daughter was an ordinary person without a Spiritual Root, while the younger daughter was a genius with a single fire Spiritual Root.

Moreover, the two were said to have very unusual fates: when one was strong, the other was weak, and when one was weak, the other was strong.

In other words, it would be difficult for the two to coexist peacefully, because whenever one suffered misfortune, the other would benefit. That lure was simply too tempting.