Kong Hou placed her hand in Huan Zong’s palm. His palm was broad, and his warm fingers closed around hers, completely enveloping her entire hand. “Didn’t you just say there weren’t any problems for now?”
“Only for now.” Huan Zong said, “Secret realms are ever-changing. One wrong step could lead to injury.” Gripping Kong Hou’s hand tightly, Huan Zong stepped forward. “How is your formation study coming along?”
“I’ve only just learned the basics. I’m still memorizing the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams directional diagrams and haven’t personally set up any formations yet.” Kong Hou matched Huan Zong’s pace. His legs were long, but he walked slowly, just the right speed for her to keep up with his steps.
“Formations are unlike other techniques—it’s more reliable to learn them slowly.” As soon as he finished speaking, Huan Zong swept the Longyin Sword in his hand. A black strange bird fell from the sky, its body and head split in half by sword energy. Kong Hou secretly glanced at the bird and discovered that it actually had two pairs of wings.
Their feet crunched on the ground covered with dead leaves and branches. Kong Hou stared at the nearby stream with flower petals floating on it, scratching Huan Zong’s palm with her index finger. “Huan Zong, there’s something strange about this stream.”
There were no flowering trees around, indicating that the petals had fallen into the water from upstream. But as water flows, some petals should have fallen on the shore or become discolored from being soaked. Yet there were no petal remnants on the banks of this stream, and the petals on the water’s surface were vibrantly colored, floating without showing any signs of water immersion.
Huan Zong stopped walking. The look in his eyes held a touch of admiration as he gazed at Kong Hou. “Sometimes beautiful scenery is exactly the dangerous trap.” The Longyin Sword glowed brilliantly in his hand. He swept it out, and a violent wind rolled up countless dead leaves, yet the stream remained completely unmoved.
Kong Hou blinked. When she looked at the stream again, she realized this wasn’t a stream at all—it was clearly a canyon so deep its bottom couldn’t be seen. If someone were carelessly attracted by the beautiful scenery and tried to explore the stream, even if they didn’t end up disabled from the fall, they’d certainly be bruised and battered. What difference was there between that and ruining one’s face?
The secret realm’s original master must have put considerable thought into leaving this realm behind.
Gasping in shock, Kong Hou grabbed Huan Zong’s sleeve. “Huan Zong, what in here is actually real?”
“Eyes can sometimes deceive you, but your heart won’t.” Huan Zong flew across the canyon with Kong Hou. “What’s false can never become true. As long as you observe carefully, you’ll always discover flaws. This secret realm’s main purpose isn’t to take lives, but to train the cultivators who enter, so every illusion will have a weakness.”
“It seems the secret realm’s original master was a good person.” With Huan Zong’s reminder, Kong Hou began carefully observing her surroundings. Soon she discovered that at the forked path ahead, going north was real while going east was false.
“Any cultivator who could leave a secret realm in the Lingyou Realm was a powerful being who underwent tribulation and ascended. The moment they ascended, they naturally hoped more of the younger generation could also ascend.” Huan Zong’s gaze fell on their surroundings. “The heavenly treasures in the secret realm are gifts from predecessors to their juniors.”
The cultivation manuals now circulating among the major sects had accumulated cultivation experience from generation after generation of powerful beings, with nearly a hundred additions and revisions—all precious wealth left by those who came before.
“I understand.” Kong Hou nodded. “It’s like how some people, after becoming successful, think about helping fellow townspeople.”
Huan Zong: “…”
This comparison seemed… not entirely wrong.
“I wonder where Senior Lin was transported to.” Kong Hou and Huan Zong chose the correct path. She looked around frequently, hoping to discover traces of the Cloud-Seeking Tree. Pavilion Master Sun had found the Cloud-Seeking Tree in the outer area of the secret realm back then. She wondered if it was still in the outer area now.
“Lin Hu has ancient demon bloodline. The secret realm won’t let us stay together with him.” This secret realm’s master should be a powerful being from several thousand years ago, when relations between demon cultivators and human cultivators weren’t very good and conflicts frequently occurred.
The secret realm contained consciousness left by its master, maintaining habits from thousands of years ago. So after Lin Hu was transported in, he was very likely sent alone to some location.
“So Senior Lin is being excluded by the secret realm?” Kong Hou previously hadn’t thought that faint trace of demon bloodline on Lin Hu—so weak it barely had any presence—served any purpose. Now she finally knew: it could be used to experience exclusion.
“You don’t need to worry about him. His cultivation is profound, he’s lived many years, and he’s seen plenty of things. He’ll be fine.” Huan Zong pierced through a black snake that suddenly darted from the grass with one sword strike. “Just be careful not to let yourself get injured.”
“Well…” Kong Hou looked at her hand being held. “Since there’s no mortal danger, it should be fine, right?” Holding her hand like this must be very inconvenient for him.
“Although there may be no threat to life, if you’re careless for a moment, injury is unavoidable.” Huan Zong watched the severed black snake dissolve into nothingness, his gaze becoming sharp. “If you injure your eyes or face, healing will require much trouble.”
Injuring the face…
Kong Hou obediently walked beside Huan Zong, saying with complete sincerity: “Huan Zong, fortunately you were transported together with me.”
Huan Zong stopped walking and glanced at her sideways. In his pupils, Kong Hou’s eyes curved into crescents, her face fair and tender—utterly lovely.
Kong Hou tilted her head slightly, looking at Huan Zong’s beautiful eyes. She felt that the hand with which Huan Zong held hers was especially warm—warm to the point of being slightly hot.
The two searched the vicinity in a circle but didn’t discover any trace of the Cloud-Seeking Tree. The sky had gradually darkened. The secret realm also had rising and setting sun and moon, clouds, mist, rain, and snow—as if it were another world entirely.
“We still have a month. We can take it slowly; there’s no rush.” Huan Zong stopped walking and set up a barrier around them. “Let’s rest here for the night first.”
This place was spacious and open—suitable for resting.
“Alright.” Kong Hou pulled two cushions from her storage ring, handing one to Huan Zong. She tossed the other on the ground and sat cross-legged on it. A few fingernail-sized red flowers bloomed by her feet. Kong Hou stood up and moved the cushion closer to Huan Zong to avoid crushing them.
Noticing this action, Huan Zong’s eyes and brows took on a gentle expression. He retrieved several food items from his storage ring and placed them on the ground, appreciating the flowers while eating with Kong Hou. Not far from them grew several spiritual herbs, yet neither person made a move toward them.
The spiritual herbs swayed in the wind, swaying again and again, but still couldn’t attract the two people’s attention.
After finishing their meal, Kong Hou felt that with spiritual energy so abundant here, not using it for meditation and cultivation would be wasteful. So she pulled Huan Zong to meditate together. Those poor spiritual herbs not far away swayed their bodies like eels in water, their straight leaves waving into wavy lines, yet still didn’t receive a single glance from the two.
Spiritual energy gathered from all directions, surrounding Kong Hou and Huan Zong, bit by bit seeping into their bodies. Perhaps because both had Five Spiritual Roots aptitude, sitting together made their attraction to spiritual energy especially strong. Soon they were enveloped in spiritual energy so dense it could almost solidify.
Kong Hou felt that the spiritual energy circulating in her body included not only the energy she herself had converted, but also another stream of spiritual energy helping to cleanse her meridians. This stream of spiritual energy had a very strong force, but it didn’t rampage through her body. Instead, it followed the spiritual energy from her own body, slowly circulating throughout her entire being.
With this unfamiliar spiritual energy, her body absorbed spiritual energy exceptionally quickly—so fast that Kong Hou thought she might be experiencing cultivation deviation.
When she opened her eyes, the sun was already high in the sky. She turned to look at Huan Zong. Whether it was her imagination or not, she felt that Huan Zong’s complexion today seemed much better.
Huan Zong slowly opened his eyes, meeting Kong Hou’s gaze.
Last night, through an unexpected coincidence, he and Kong Hou had actually undergone Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation. Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation required the right timing, location, and harmony among people. When two people with the right affinity meditated together, they could very likely trigger spiritual energy resonance, allowing each other’s spiritual energy to circulate through both people’s meridians, achieving twice the results with half the effort.
Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation was different from male-female dual cultivation. Its conditions were extremely stringent. Cultivators who could have this opportunity were extremely few. Many cultivators could go their entire lives without encountering their destined person, so the cultivation world rarely mentioned this dual cultivation method. The most common dual cultivation path was still primarily between dao companions.
Touching his spiritual platform that finally felt no pain today, Huan Zong’s expression was somewhat complex. He hadn’t expected that between him and Kong Hou, there would be such a connection.
“Huan Zong, what just happened?” Kong Hou stretched her arms and kicked her legs, feeling that this meditation session had been exceptionally satisfying.
“This is Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation.” Huan Zong said, “I didn’t expect it either.”
“Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation?” Kong Hou had heard about this cultivation method from her eldest senior brother, but he had said this cultivation method could be encountered but not sought, and cultivators who could resonate with each other and trigger heaven and earth spiritual energy were even harder to find.
Something said to be hard to find… was just this easy to achieve?
“Perhaps it’s because the spiritual energy in the secret realm is too abundant?” Kong Hou looked at Huan Zong. “After we leave the secret realm, should we try again?”
“Alright.” Huan Zong nodded, stood up, and once again extended his hand to Kong Hou. “Shall we look around the area?”
This time Kong Hou didn’t ask why. She directly placed her hand in Huan Zong’s palm. “Let’s look. What if the Cloud-Seeking Tree is nearby?”
After walking two steps, Kong Hou discovered that several small grasses had grown adorable red fruits. She stopped to ask: “What kind of grass is this?”
“Legend has it there’s a type of grass that can pull its roots from the soil, move itself to a place it likes, then put down roots again and slowly grow.” Huan Zong pointed at the small sprouts. “I’ve seen this type of grass in books before. I think it’s called…”
“Ah!” A scream came from the distance. The voice sounded somewhat like Lingbo’s.
Kong Hou bent down to dig up these several grasses with their roots and soil, placing them in her storage ring. “Huan Zong, is this sound real, or was it created by an illusion?”
“Come with me.” Huan Zong looked at the sky above where the sound originated. Spiritual energy and demonic energy were tangled together in great confusion—people were fighting in that forest.
Kong Hou walked into the forest and saw Lingbo holding her life-bound sword, her face bearing bloodstains she hadn’t wiped away. She was protecting a woman behind her, appearing bedraggled with disheveled hair.
The girl being protected seemed to be named… Jin Ling?
Dozens of black strange birds surrounded them both, seemingly ready to pounce at any moment and devour them.
Battle was about to break out.
“Don’t step on my skirt.” Lingbo tugged at her hem. “This is my newest style.”
—
Author’s Note: Lingbo: Even in critical moments, one must defend the dignity of the newest style skirt.