The Secret Realm of Li’er Kingdom was quite different from what Zanxing had imagined.
Although it was supposed to be a place of trials filled with danger and the unknown, it looked more like a scenic area. Perhaps because Li’er Kingdom itself was a tourist destination, even its affiliated Secret Realm was filled with enchanting charm.
Since time was relative between the outside and inside of the Secret Realm, the moment they stepped into this place, everyone immediately felt the coolness of early morning.
Zanxing raised her eyes to look around. This place had towering mountains and deep valleys, with overlapping peaks and ridges. Everywhere there were streams and deep pools. In the distance, the wilderness was covered in azure green—a vast forest sea that outlined a rich emerald color between heaven and earth. Even further away, there were glaciers covered in white snow. At a glance, the scenery was filled with water and mountain colors, white and vermilion hues.
“This is the Secret Realm?” Tian Fangfang was entering a Secret Realm for the first time and was greatly amazed. “The scenery here is quite nice—it’s almost as good as our Gufeng Mountain. No wonder those cultivators fight tooth and nail to get into Secret Realms. Even if they don’t find any opportunities, just getting to see this place once wouldn’t be a loss.”
“Secret Realms are not all like this,” Mu Cengxiao said upon hearing this. “I’ve heard of people entering Secret Realms that were like hellish demon caves, filled with raging fires everywhere, extremely difficult, not peaceful like this place.”
Meng Ying rarely explained to them: “Secret Realms differ from one another. However, cultivators don’t enter Secret Realms for sightseeing—finding opportunities to aid in cultivation is the proper path.”
Beauty Meng couldn’t go three sentences without mentioning cultivation. Zanxing was already used to this, so she asked: “Should we scatter in all directions now to search for opportunities?”
She pondered that this time she absolutely must not steal Mu Cengxiao’s opportunities, so it would be best to stay far away from him. Among this group, Mu Cengxiao and Meng Ying were the ones she needed to avoid. As for Gu Baiying… someone who would smash this and that at the slightest disagreement was also a dangerous element. Speaking of it, it would be best to stay with Tian Fangfang or Mendong to avoid causing trouble.
“Regarding Li’er Kingdom’s Secret Realm, Senior Sister Zi Luo came here ten years ago,” Mendong pointed at the distant forest sea. “Senior Sister Zi Luo said that spiritual herbs and spiritual fruits all grow in Wudong Mountain. We need to walk forward, cross Lanjing Lake, and climb that mountain.”
Upon hearing about mountain climbing, Zanxing’s head began to ache. That forest sea looked close, but walking there probably wouldn’t be so easy. She asked: “Can we use sword flight? Sister Meng, could you take me along once?”
Everyone stared at her.
Zanxing: “What’s wrong? I was possessed by a Merfolk’s primordial spirit, and my injuries haven’t healed yet. For sword flight… taking me along wouldn’t be excessive, right?”
“Inside the Secret Realm is different from outside—the space itself is chaotic, so sword flight isn’t possible. We must walk up the mountain on foot,” Meng Ying said.
Zanxing: “……”
“You can still leave now, and it would be in time.” Gu Baiying looked down on her appearance with great disdain.
Before Zanxing could respond, Meng Ying looked at her and shook her head slightly: “Junior Sister Yang, when I just came out of seclusion, I heard the Master Uncles say that you were very diligent in cultivation, often staying at Chuhong Terrace for half a day at a time, which is why you could take first place in the sect assessment. How is it that after being accepted as Sixth Master Uncle’s disciple, you’ve become lazy instead? We cultivators must be diligent and hardworking—otherwise, if sect disciples all wanted to save effort and enjoy leisure, how could Taiyan Sect continue to flourish in the future?”
Zanxing: “I…”
“After this Secret Realm trial ends, I will explain to Sixth Master Uncle and have him add more cultivation tasks for you in the future. Since you were able to find the ‘Qing E Nian Hua Gun,’ you are someone chosen by Qinghua Xianzi as a destined person. Taiyan Sect’s future will surely have your name in it—you absolutely must not waste this opportunity.”
After Meng Ying finished saying this, she turned and continued walking forward. Zanxing looked at Gu Baiying, who was looking at her with a half-smile. She then looked at Tian Fangfang, who patted Zanxing’s shoulder: “Look, what a good senior sister, thinking of you wholeheartedly. Junior sister, you need to work hard.”
Zanxing’s pressure suddenly increased.
When she first arrived at Taiyan Sect, she had indeed been in the spotlight for a while. However, at that time, the flower-shaped mark hadn’t appeared on her hand yet, and the original story hadn’t shown so much “malice” toward her. Now she had to avoid the traps of the original story while following the plot, yet couldn’t completely follow the plot into that cannon fodder ending—it was really difficult.
She could only take things as they came.
While Zanxing’s group was talking, disciples from other sects were also walking toward the forest sea. Li’er Kingdom’s Secret Realm wasn’t particularly rare—people entered it every ten years. Just as Zi Luo would explain in advance the matters that needed attention to Mendong, people from other sects who had been to this place had also drawn maps early and handed them to the disciples entering the Secret Realm this time.
Everyone knew that opportunities were all on Wudong Mountain, so for the moment, their goals were the same.
Wudong Mountain lived up to its name—throughout the year, it lacked only winter. The forest sea was daily filled with brilliant flowers, fresh and vigorous. But Zanxing felt this name was quite arbitrary. After all, the Secret Realm only opened once every ten years, each time in this season, which was spring. Other cultivators had never seen Wudong Mountain in winter either—even if it snowed during those years when the Secret Realm was sealed, others couldn’t see it. Moreover, behind the forest sea, there was still a glacial snow peak, so these two characters for “no winter” were probably just a gimmick.
But the road was still very long.
Here, the emerald color spread across the wilderness, concealing the road’s ruggedness. However, when walking, one realized that this Secret Realm truly only opened once every ten years, because in many places, there wasn’t even a path. When the road was at its narrowest, people needed to press against the cliff wall and move carefully. Sometimes while walking, there would suddenly be a huge deep ravine ahead, requiring them to find another route.
After walking for about two hours, with the sun moving from diagonally ahead to directly overhead, and some cultivators’ faces already showing beads of sweat as they couldn’t maintain their dignity, Zanxing also felt her legs becoming sore. Suddenly, the view ahead opened up.
The vast sky was a moving azure blue color, and in the embrace of the broad mountain peaks, a bay of emerald jade lay quietly.
This was an azure lake with an extremely smooth surface, glimmering like a mirror. In the mirror, the distant snow peaks and mountains were reflected, along with an entire azure sky and dense clouds, clear and bright.
There wasn’t a trace of wind, nor any bird flocks or insect chirping. This place was like a dream sealed away from the world, silently and quietly waiting for travelers who had wandered into this place to explore.
Zanxing suddenly remembered a legend from somewhere—the legend said that when a fairy’s dressing mirror fell to the mortal world, it became a lake. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely false.
“This is Lanjing Lake,” Mendong raised her head and looked into the distance. “They’re all resting by the lake. Let’s also stop and rest for a while.”
Although cultivators weren’t as weak as ordinary mortals, the roads in this Secret Realm were too difficult to traverse. Climbing mountains non-stop like this made even cultivators want to rest for a while to replenish their strength. However, no sect’s people wanted to fall behind others and let them seize the initiative because of resting, so stopping here became an unspoken agreement.