Lin Hu’s words abruptly stopped after seeing Huan Zong. His gaze swept back and forth over Huan Zong, with obvious disapproval in his eyes. However, some words weren’t suitable to say in front of Kong Hou, so he held back.

Huan Zong took two of the fruits Kong Hou had picked from her hands. “Remember to rest a bit more.”

Kong Hou nodded, guessing the two probably had something to discuss, and ran off to the side.

Not far away on the open ground, several houses of various styles had been set up. These houses were all refined magical tools for cultivators to temporarily reside in while outside.

Kong Hou carried the fresh fruit over and sat down beside Lingbo.

“This fruit is quite fresh.” Without waiting for Kong Hou’s invitation, Lingbo proactively reached out to take fruit, conveniently conjuring a basin of water to wash them. “Rich in spiritual energy, crisp, sweet, and delicious. I really want to take them back to the sect to plant.”

“These fruits are so delicious precisely because they grew in a place rich with spiritual energy.” Kong Hou dumped all the fruits into the basin and indicated for Lingbo to wash them all. Lingbo pretended not to understand Kong Hou’s hint and turned her head to look at her junior brother.

The junior brother instantly understood his senior sister’s meaning and rolled up his sleeves to begin washing the fruit.

Who did the washing wasn’t important—what was important was that someone washed them. Kong Hou picked a big red one and started eating. “What are your plans now?”

“First find Senior Brother and meet up with him.” Lingbo recalled that Kong Hou and the others seemed to be looking for some Cloud-Seeking Tree. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Kong Hou silently shook her head. The secret realm’s spirit hadn’t deceived her—there truly might be no more Cloud-Seeking Tree here. The Cloud-Seeking Tree didn’t touch dust and had uncertain whereabouts. These past few days, she had kept searching in clouds and mist, even exploring in the water, but had found nothing.

“Many things depend on fate and timing. Don’t be too anxious.” Lingbo rarely had the good mood to talk with a yellow-haired young girl. “Liuguang Sect views the sword as life itself. For them, nothing is more important than pursuing the sword path.” If this yellow-haired girl truly ended up together with Huan Zong Zhenren, it would be best if she stayed at Cloud Flower Mountain. Life at Liuguang Sect might not be too easy for a Yunhua Sect disciple.

Kong Hou didn’t understand why Lingbo suddenly brought up how Liuguang Sect’s sword cultivators were, but still nodded in confusion. “Oh.”

Seeing her inattentive appearance, Lingbo frowned slightly. After all, she was a young girl who didn’t know that these worldly matters could turn immortal maidens into haggard old women.

“If you can’t find what you’re looking for, what will you do? Just leave the secret realm?” Stopping at just the right point, although Lingbo’s personality was spoiled and willful, her mind was very clear—some words weren’t appropriate to say too much.

“First help you find Daoist Chang De.” Kong Hou raised her head to look at the sky. “I’ve never entered a secret realm before. Coming in this time, I can gain some experience.”

Lingbo fell silent. According to common practice, after disciples joined a sect, they would spend most of the first ten years cultivating within the sect. Even if there were secret realms, they weren’t suitable for disciples who had just entered.

But Kong Hou’s cultivation increased too quickly. These established rules used on her didn’t seem quite appropriate.

There were many kinds of secret realms. Some appeared suddenly and were filled with crises. Others were left behind by the ancestors of various major sects to cultivate disciples—they wouldn’t have too much danger, just the possibility of suffering some hardships inside.

There was also the kind they were currently in—secret realms that appeared punctually at intervals. Cultivators from any sect could enter, good and evil were hard to distinguish, and life and death hung in the balance of an instant.

“Since that’s the case, stay inside for a few more days. The spiritual energy inside is abundant—meditating for one day is worth five or six days outside. Don’t waste it.” Seeing Jin Ling come out from the house, Lingbo beckoned to her. “Come over and eat fruit together.”

Jin Ling saw Lingbo sitting cross-legged on a cushion with her hair casually draped behind her. She really didn’t resemble the Lingbo Xianzi from their first meeting, who even needed people to scatter flower petals when she walked.

Two completely different personas in front of others versus in private. Turning her head to look at Kong Hou again, she wasn’t any better than Lingbo Xianzi. Fortunately, both were female cultivators with extremely striking appearances—even if somewhat slovenly, they were still very good-looking.

If one of these two dressed up elaborately, then the other definitely wouldn’t be casual either. But these two seemed to have made an agreement—they suddenly became “unparticular.”

“We’ve stayed here for several days. Who knows when we’ll be able to encounter Daoist Chang De.” These past two days they had been living here continuously. Coming and going, there were only these few people—they hadn’t seen any other living beings. The remaining few men had long since seen them at their most fierce, so the image they had worked hard to maintain outside could be appropriately relaxed a bit.

People who latched onto big thighs needed to have the awareness of latching onto big thighs. People who latched onto big thighs but still nitpicked and complained—that was having a bad brain.

Lingbo glanced at her burdensome junior brother. Right now, following along with Huan Zong Zhenren and the others together was the most prudent choice.

The sun rose in the east again. Chang De leaned against a tree trunk with two junior brothers for a brief rest. When the first ray of sunlight shone over, he opened his eyes. Ever since entering the secret realm, they hadn’t had a single peaceful day.

First they were harassed by illusory demons, then forcibly made to live in strange houses. When they woke up in the morning and saw a pile of spirit stones stacked in the corner of the room, if they didn’t take those spirit stones away, they weren’t allowed to leave the barrier.

Later on the road, they rescued a female cultivator who was being bullied by companions. Who knew that the ugly-faced female cultivator being bullied had actually done something wrong to another female cultivator? These several grown men were scolded bloody by another beautiful female cultivator, and because of their guilty conscience, they couldn’t even talk back.

After that, they were chased all the way by succubi. Those succubi seemed to deliberately follow them, appearing from time to time, preventing them from being peaceful for too long.

If it were cultivators with slightly weaker mental states, being harassed by succubi from time to time, they would probably have already lost their rationality. But Chang De was different. As the head disciple of Zhaohan Sect, the junior brothers and sisters in the sect weren’t all well-behaved and sensible. He had long since become accustomed to dealing with various sudden situations.

Succubi were very easy to make people irritable, but even the most annoying succubi couldn’t compare to that pile of junior brothers and sisters in the sect with their various temperaments.

He stood up and saw that the outer robe covering one junior brother had already slid off onto the muddy ground. He bent down to pick up the outer robe and covered his junior brother with it.

The two junior brothers slept very deeply. Even when the early morning sunlight shone on their faces, they only turned over to face away from the sun and continued sleeping.

Chang De sighed. With such lack of vigilance, if they went out alone and encountered evil cultivators, they probably couldn’t even preserve their lives. The secret realm had no seasons—some places were filled with blooming flowers, some places were exceptionally scorching, and other places had white snow everywhere, with no regularity.

Looking at the lake not far away, he began to worry about another junior brother and Junior Sister Lingbo. The five of them in their group had separated after entering the secret realm. The youngest junior brother had only been cultivating in the sect for just over ten years, and Junior Sister Lingbo had an indulgent personality. Usually it was fine when they yielded to her, but who in the secret realm would deliberately accommodate her?

Not yet a father, but already operating with the concerns of both a father and grandfather. Chang De felt that the greatest cultivation in his life wasn’t the sword path, but rather these junior brothers and sisters.

A very faint smell of blood suddenly permeated the forest. As a sword cultivator, his five senses were extremely sharp. Detecting something wrong, he used palm wind to wake the two junior brothers. “Everyone get up. There’s a situation.”

“Senior Brother?” The two junior brothers bounced up from the ground holding their swords and quickly moved closer to Chang De.

“Don’t panic.” Chang De turned his head toward the two junior brothers. “The more panicked and fearful you are, the easier it is for inner demons to find an opening. In this relatively safe secret realm, you’re already like this—if you encountered true evil cultivators, what would you do?”

The two junior brothers obediently listened to the lecture and didn’t dare talk back.

“You two follow behind me and pay attention to protecting your backs.” Chang De worried that someone had met with danger, so he decided to look around the vicinity.

Reaching the other side of the lake, he saw a cultivator from the Independent Cultivators Alliance lying in the water. The blood flowing from his body had dyed the water all around him red. He had an impression of this independent cultivator—when entering the secret realm, this person had even cupped his fists toward him.

“Senior Brother.” The two junior brothers wanted to go pull the person from the water. Chang De stopped them. “Don’t move.” Waving his sleeve to use spiritual energy to fish the person from the lake, Chang De’s expression gradually darkened. “The person is already dead.”

The two junior brothers’ expressions changed immediately. Since entering the secret realm, although they had encountered all kinds of strange occurrences, their lives hadn’t been in danger. Now that a death had suddenly occurred, did it mean the secret realm wasn’t as safe as they thought?

“Sword wounds.” Chang De looked at the wounds on the corpse. “One pierced through the spiritual platform, one penetrated through the heart. The wounds are small and compact—the perpetrator should be an expert with the sword.”

This person died at human hands, not from the secret realm.

“Senior Brother, there’s no storage ring on the body, and no storage pouch either.”

There were only so many people who had entered the secret realm in total, and everyone knew very well who used swords. This person didn’t have a storage pouch or storage ring on his body—not because he didn’t have these things, but because someone had taken them.

Murder for wealth, ruthless and vicious.

With the strength and status of Zhaohan Sect, Liuguang Sect, Yunhua Sect, and Yuanji Sect, the personal disciples of these sects absolutely couldn’t do something like killing to steal treasures. They weren’t lacking these spiritual herbs and medicines, and even if they truly lacked them, they wouldn’t use such methods.

If disciples truly had such inferior character, the sects couldn’t possibly keep them, much less take them as personal disciples.

Sect disciples couldn’t possibly do such a thing, so the most likely perpetrators were independent cultivators. Although these independent cultivators were registered with the Independent Cultivators Alliance, unless major events occurred, they wouldn’t have much private contact, and thus couldn’t possibly have much friendship.

Just as Chang De was deep in thought, the Independent Cultivators Alliance elder rushed over with three independent cultivators. They must have also smelled the blood and come over to look.

Chang De wasn’t the slightest bit surprised by their arrival. Apart from the Independent Cultivators Alliance elder, the other three independent cultivators weren’t yet skilled at concealment—he had already detected their approach.

When the four from the Independent Cultivators Alliance came over, they happened to see the Zhaohan Sect disciples searching through the corpse’s clothes. For a moment, they inevitably thought more of it. Especially after they discovered that the lying cultivator was from their Independent Cultivators Alliance and the fatal wounds were caused by a sword, the four independent cultivators’ expressions became especially unpleasant.

If not for considering Chang De’s status, perhaps at this moment, someone among the four would be pointing at Chang De asking: Did you kill him?

After a moment of mutual silence, Chang De still decided to explain. “When we arrived, this fellow Daoist was lying in the water.”

The independent cultivators looked toward the lake. The surface was clean and clear, with no traces of blood contamination.

Chang De followed their gazes and looked at the crystal-clear lake, frowning slightly. The blood that was there just now—how did it disappear in the blink of an eye?

Seeing this, Chang De’s junior brother’s tone became stammering. “Senior Brother, I just casually used a cleansing technique on the lake.”

So… the bloodstains disappeared.

Why don’t you use a cleansing technique on your own brain too?

The curse words almost slipped out, but Chang De still relied on years of cultivation to hold back. Dealing with these junior brothers and sisters who specialized in undermining their own people every day—how many people could understand the bitterness within?

“Using what cleansing technique on a perfectly good lake? Who are you trying to fool?” Among the four independent cultivators, a cultivator who looked very young sarcastically remarked in a neither yin nor yang tone. “Just that coincidental?”

“Protecting water sources, caring for the environment—what’s wrong with that?” The Zhaohan Sect junior brother seemed not to hear the hidden meaning in this independent cultivator’s words. He took out a piece of plain cloth from his storage ring and covered the deceased’s face. “Looking at your expressions, you seem to have some misunderstanding about me.”

The Independent Cultivators Alliance elder stepped forward to examine the corpse and discovered the other party had two wounds on their body, each one at a fatal location. He stood up and, after hesitating a moment, said, “Please tell us what happened, Daoist Chang De.”

Chang De knew these independent cultivators didn’t trust him, but given the current situation, it was normal for the other party to have suspicious attitudes. He didn’t get angry because of this and recounted what happened completely and thoroughly.

“Everything is according to your account. Who knows if you’re deceiving us?” The young independent cultivator had always felt these major sect disciples were extremely arrogant. If someone offended them, it was entirely possible they would do some unexpected things.

This fellow Daoist who died unclearly had no major faults, but quite a few minor ones—he loved taking small advantages, was noisy, spoke without thinking, and wasn’t good-looking either.

These small shortcomings at most made people dislike him, but weren’t enough to make someone kill him. But in front of these arrogant sect disciples, perhaps they became heinous crimes.

“What does this fellow Daoist mean? Why not speak more clearly and plainly?” Chang De’s expression turned cold. He put his hands behind his back, appearing extremely dignified. “If we wanted to take lives, why would we leave you all as witnesses?”

These words were somewhat aggressive, but the four independent cultivators truly might not be able to defeat these three sword cultivators.

Being pressured like this, the independent cultivator’s expression became somewhat unpleasant, but seeing that the other three traveling companions didn’t speak up, he could only resentfully shut his mouth. If a dispute arose later and the other three didn’t help him, he wouldn’t even have room to escape.

“I can understand fellow Daoist’s feelings, but before the matter is clarified, it’s best not to speak casually.” Chang De’s expression eased slightly. “To avoid stirring up unnecessary conflicts.”

“I wonder if fellow Daoist saw any strange figures when rushing over just now?” The Independent Cultivators Alliance elder acted prudently, and his tone when asking questions was even more peaceful.

“Haven’t seen any.” Chang De shook his head. He didn’t want to create too much conflict with the Independent Cultivators Alliance and performed a junior’s bow toward the elder. “When my two junior brothers and I rushed over, this fellow Daoist’s body had already been immersed in the lake.”

The Independent Cultivators Alliance elder looked at Chang De. In his heart, he already leaned toward believing Chang De. He turned his head to comfort the other few independent cultivators to prevent the atmosphere from becoming even more awkward. Offending the entire Zhaohan Sect over a matter without evidence wasn’t worth the loss.

The person was already dead, precisely when the murderer was unclear. If they now impatiently provoked Zhaohan Sect’s anger, it would be equivalent to making enemies of all sect disciples before leaving the secret realm. The Ten Great Sects all had relationships with each other—any sect disciple would speak on Zhaohan Sect’s behalf.

Sometimes the determination of identity was a natural position. Sect disciples being closer to sect disciples was only normal.

“Thank you for informing us, fellow Daoist.” The elder prepared to lay out this independent cultivator’s corpse properly. “The path ahead in the secret realm is unclear. If fellow Daoist doesn’t disdain our low cultivation, please allow us to travel forward together with you all.”

Many times, when contradictions were brought into the open, they became easier to resolve instead. Choosing to travel with Zhaohan Sect disciples at this moment was better than them fighting alone.

Chang De hadn’t had time to agree when he heard voices coming from the distance. He gripped his sword hilt tightly. “Other people are coming.”

The independent cultivators looked at each other. Where were there people?

After a while, they finally heard voices—the sounds were coming from above their heads.

Using flying tools in the secret realm? The independent cultivators’ expressions were somewhat strange. Was this preparing to use themselves as targets, or treating the secret realm as a place for sightseeing? They were too embarrassed to speak sarcastically—what if they were from their Independent Cultivators Alliance? How embarrassing would that be?

“Senior Brother, that seems to be Junior Sister Lingbo’s voice.” The Zhaohan Sect disciple looked up at the sky and raised his voice. “Several fellow Daoists above, this one is a Zhaohan Sect disciple. Please come down for a discussion, fellow Daoists.”

“Zhaohan Sect? This is one of our senior brothers’ voices.” Lingbo was overjoyed and praised Kong Hou. “You truly have talent in divination. Walking south really did let us find them.”

Looking at the delighted Lingbo, Kong Hou said nothing.

When she performed that divination, she was only thinking about which direction would be more auspicious. She hadn’t thought about this at all.

This misunderstanding seemed a bit big?

**Author’s Note:**

Succubi are terrifying?

Senior Brother: That doesn’t exist—nothing is more terrifying than bratty kids!