Even Mendong didn’t know, so this flower must be very rare. Zanxing tugged at his sleeve: “Let’s go.”

“Go?” Mendong was surprised. “Why should we go? Although I don’t know what this flower is, it looks rare and must be a unique flower seldom seen in the world. Of course, we should pick it!”

“That’s exactly the problem,” Zanxing said, looking at that golden, glowing flower. “The more colorful and brilliant something is, the more we can’t let our guard down. This mountain has many wild beasts and spirits. With such a large golden flower growing here, how could they not approach it? But this flower is still growing here perfectly fine—what does that tell us?”

“What?”

“Either it’s a trap, or this flower has the power to protect itself,” Zanxing said. “I’ve seen this kind of thing many times. Don’t lose the big picture for small gains.”

“What kind of logic is that?” Mendong stared at her in disbelief. “Even mortals know the principle of seeking wealth through risk, let alone us cultivators? This flower appearing before you is your opportunity. Heaven has delivered something right to your doorstep, yet you’re being suspicious and paranoid, rejecting opportunity. Acting like this, how could you possibly have fortune favor you? If you don’t dare go, I will!” He turned around, took out a Swift Wind Talisman, and stuck it under his feet. Like a gust of wind, he immediately approached that golden flower.

Before Zanxing could grab this stubborn child, the Swift Wind Talisman had already taken effect. Swift Wind Talismans were difficult to make—one talisman cost dozens of spirit stones. Zanxing hadn’t been willing to buy one, and now she was worried about Mendong going to pick the flowers alone. She could only curse silently in her heart while slowly climbing along the tree branches toward the golden flower.

Halfway through climbing, Zanxing saw Mendong’s movements suddenly stop. When she looked carefully, she saw that on the branches of another tree leading to the golden flower, a familiar person was approaching the flower—it was Tan Tianxin from Chihua Gate.

After Nie Xinghong had said those words earlier, people from all the major sects had gone their separate ways. Not to mention different sects—even disciples from the same sect would mostly act independently once entering the Secret Realm, except for those with poor skills, to avoid internal conflicts over competing for things. Zanxing had thought Tan Tianxin had long since gone far away, but unexpectedly, he had also discovered the golden flower here and was probably planning to strike first.

Zanxing initially didn’t care, but then suddenly remembered how Tan Tianxin had beaten that Liuli Sect cultivator to near death at the Qiangqiang Gambling House in Li’er Kingdom. Although Rong Yu had been Yinying in disguise at the time, Tan Tianxin’s hidden selfish motives were real. Later, with the Bixi spirit incident in the cave, including the fact that the Secret Realm was scheduled to open as usual the day after the battle with the Merfolk, everything indicated that this was a selfish, scheming, and greedy person.

If Mendong competed with him for this “opportunity,” Tan Tianxin would probably use ruthless methods.

Sure enough, Tan Tianxin over there had already seen Mendong. He was first startled and instinctively raised the sword in his hand, but after just a moment, he quickly stopped his movements and slowed his pace.

Zanxing was confused for a moment, then understood. This person was probably also worried that the golden flower was suspicious, and seeing Mendong here, he deliberately walked slower to let Mendong scout the path for him.

Mendong was just a child after all. Although he had the Spirit Aperture and was unmatched in identifying spiritual herbs and fruits, his ability to read people’s psychological calculations was far inferior to cunning foxes like Tan Tianxin. Originally, seeing someone come to compete for the golden flower, Mendong was already a bit anxious, afraid of being intercepted by others. Now seeing Tan Tianxin’s movements slow down, he became even more impatient. He simply threw the ice pot directly into his Qiankun Bag and climbed toward the flower with both hands gripping the tree branches.

Zanxing couldn’t call out now and could only quickly use a Sound Transmission Talisman to contact Gu Baiying while following Mendong to climb in that direction.

Mendong had already climbed to within just a few steps of the golden flower. He looked up at the flower—it was very large and couldn’t be plucked directly like the Dragon Tooth Fruits. He took out a sickle from his Qiankun Bag, a tool normally used to cut spiritual herbs with thorns. He raised the sickle, about to hack at the golden flower’s stem.

Just then, a sword light suddenly struck, knocking the sickle from Mendong’s hand. The next moment, Tan Tianxin appeared in front of Mendong.

Zanxing sighed inwardly. Sure enough, he had intercepted it.

“Get lost, you little brat,” Tan Tianxin looked down at Mendong condescendingly. His cultivation was decent—he didn’t need to grab tree branches like Mendong and Zanxing, and could stand steadily on the branches with both feet.

“You… you’re shameless!” Mendong’s face turned green with anger. “I saw this flower first!”

“So what if you saw it first?” The man sneered, his attitude extremely arrogant. “Whoever grabs it first gets it. Say one more word and I’ll kick you down.”

“Fellow Cultivator Tan,” Zanxing, afraid that Mendong would be bullied, climbed hard toward that direction while shouting: “If you want to pick the flower, then pick it. But if you hurt my junior brother, I won’t mind calling all the cultivators here with one shout. There are people from other sects in the Secret Realm, too. If you think too few people know about this and want to share more widely, I can lend you a hand.”

Tan Tianxin certainly didn’t want too many people to know about this flower. Upon hearing this, he withdrew the hand he was about to strike Mendong with, snorted, and walked directly toward the golden flower.

Zanxing waved to Mendong, signaling him to come back quickly.

Mendong pursed his lips, seeming still somewhat unwilling but helpless. He could only climb back along the tree branches, looking back at the golden flower as he climbed.

Tan Tianxin had already walked beside the golden flower. He seemed quite satisfied with this flower and, without hesitation, raised the sword in his hand, hacking down hard at the flower stem.

Zanxing breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t particularly regretful about this flower being taken by Tan Tianxin. For some reason, this bright flower always made her feel something was wrong. Perhaps from reading too many nature magazines as a child, she naturally harbored wariness toward brightly colored creatures.

For example, years ago, she had seen a type of snake whose tail looked like a worm, realistic enough to be mistaken for real. The snake would put its tail outside and wiggle it to attract birds to peck at it. When the birds approached, they became the snake’s prey.

This flower was so abnormally brilliant—not only did the petals glow, but even the stem was a brilliant light gold color. It had no leaves and was hidden among the dense canopy of the Dragon Tooth Tree. How could one know if this wasn’t some new kind of trap?

However, having even the stem be golden was truly rare.

The stem…

Zanxing suddenly realized something and looked up sharply: “Mendong, run!”

In the distance, the sharp sword tip struck the flower stem, but that seemingly soft stem was like stone and iron, bouncing the sword tip back.

Immediately after, an earth-shaking roar came from above the mountain forest.

Mimi’s fur instantly stood on end.

From the Dragon Tooth Tree, a vague shadow leaped out. This shadow was like a red flowing fire, with that golden flower suspended behind it—it was its swaying tail.

This was a fiery red, striped giant tiger.