After gathering all the remaining survivors in the Secret Realm, Hua Jian gripped the Treasure Map Scroll and swung it forcefully forward.
As spiritual power surged into the scroll, a beam of golden light burst from its tip, instantly shattering the space before Hua Jian.
A passage wrapped in golden light appeared before everyone’s eyes, and the entire Secret Realm began to shake violently, collapsing gradually from the outer edges.
At this rate, the Secret Realm would turn into fragments in the void within a quarter of an hour. There wasn’t much time left for Hua Jian and the others to evacuate.
“Quick, quick, quick, go now!” Hua Jian waved her hand at the group of injured and sick, urging them to leave first.
The Ling Kings who could still move had no intention of hesitating. Who would play around with pointless nonsense at a time like this? Leaving immediately was the only right choice.
With the last of their strength, they carried the people Hua Jian assigned them and filed into the golden passage, disappearing without a trace.
“Chai Xianyun, you go too… eh?” Hua Jian turned again to where Miss Chai stood, only to find something seemed very off about Chai Xianyun’s condition.
Though Chai Xianyun had looked hopeless before, now she seemed completely soulless. Her eyes were dull, she could stand and breathe, but gave off an inhuman feeling.
When she heard Hua Jian’s words, she did start moving, but her actions were stiff, just like a puppet controlled by strings.
“This is strange. What’s going on now?” Hua Jian scratched her head, but there was no time to worry.
The collapse of the Secret Realm was imminent, and she had to hurry up and get out.
After sending out every living person from the Secret Realm, Hua Jian called out to A Meng in her mind, reminding her to leave the Dreamscape.
‘I’m coming!’
In the next instant, A Meng rushed out from the Dreamscape, leaving the Chai Family Patriarch’s soul imprisoned inside.
“Once I leave, he’ll start destroying that space. If he manages to break it completely, his soul will return to his body.”
That soul space was actually a Soul Prison set up by Hua Jian with her special ability.
Once broken, the Chai Family Patriarch’s soul would return, and with his fighting power, it wouldn’t be hard for him to shatter the prison if no one stopped him.
“No problem, I can close the space channel myself—he can’t get out.”
Since Hua Jian had the power to open a space passage, she naturally had the power to close it too.
As long as they left, she could shut the channel and seal the Chai Family Patriarch inside forever.
So, what they had to do now was run—run as fast as they could before the Chai Family Patriarch woke up.
Bang!
No sooner had she spoken than Hua Jian felt a sharp pain in her head, and a stream of nosebleed trickled from her nostrils.
“He can even hit me through the Dreamscape?!” Enduring the headache, Hua Jian wiped the blood away and shouted quickly at A Meng and Linglong, “A Meng, grab us and run!”
“Alright!”
With her claws, A Meng scooped up Hua Jian and Linglong and charged for the passage at full speed.
Meanwhile, Hua Jian could hear the crisp shattering sound of the Dreamscape.
Only now did she realize: the Dreamscape was constructed with her own soul.
If anything inside began to destroy it, the damage would be reflected on her.
No wonder the skill was so powerful—the price was right here!
As A Meng dashed with them into the passage, the most powerful attack yet slammed into Hua Jian.
With that strike, the Dreamscape collapsed entirely. The dazed Chai Family Patriarch’s pupils shrank—he came to his senses.
At the same time, Hua Jian nearly passed out from the blow. Blood flecked with colorful motes poured from both nostrils, splattering everywhere.
Her clothes were stained with splotches of red, enough to make anyone’s heart ache.
“Stop, you thieves!” The awakened Chai Family Patriarch realized the danger.
The space around him was unstable—if he didn’t escape in time, he’d be buried here.
The only exit was the distant, golden-lit passage.
He kicked off heavily, shooting toward the passage like an arrow from a bow.
“Hua Jian, wake up! He’s coming!”
The Chai Family Patriarch was blindingly fast—almost in the blink of an eye, he would enter the passage.
But Hua Jian was still reeling from the backlash of the Dreamscape’s destruction, her mind nearly gone.
Her soul was wounded, and she couldn’t recover for a while. What now?
A Meng was anxious. She could let Linglong carry Hua Jian out and try to block the Chai Family Patriarch herself.
But outside the Dreamscape, the Chai Family Patriarch’s power was already at Ling Emperor rank. Even if she went up, she could only stall for so long…
“You two go. I’ll hold him off!” Even if she couldn’t stall for long, she had to try—she was Hua Jian’s Guardian Spirit Beast, and she would lay down her life for her treasure!
A Meng made her decision immediately.
Even if she could buy only a breath or two, she would risk everything.
“Wait, I have a way.” Linglong hurried to stop A Meng’s rashness. She took a sealed box from her storage pouch, broke the seal, and opened it.
A fragrant scent wafted out. Without hesitation, Linglong popped the pale green Alchemy Pill into her mouth, then bit hard on her tongue, drawing blood.
Blood and pill blended, turning into a powerful, warm current in Linglong’s mouth.
She reached out and pulled Hua Jian—who was hanging from A Meng’s other claw—close, bent down without hesitation, and blocked Hua Jian’s lips with her own, passing the medicinal flow into Hua Jian’s mouth.
In the next instant, Hua Jian’s unfocused pupils suddenly contracted. As the energy flooded in, the pain in her soul eased greatly. Her head still ached, but it was bearable.
“Close the gate!” Before she could even grasp what was happening, A Meng’s anxious voice rang in her mind.
Close the gate?
Hua Jian froze, then recalled the current situation. Without further thought, she grabbed the Treasure Map and waved it at the exit within the Secret Realm.
“Hm?”
She meant to shout the command, but only now realized her mouth was blocked by something.
And then she finally realized what was happening.
Why was Linglong so close? Had their lips touched? Why did her mouth taste sweet and warm—could it be…
Hua Jian’s brain went blank. The shock of this scene was overwhelming.
Fortunately, the deafening crash behind snapped her attention back.
The Chai Family Patriarch was not dead. Just before the Secret Realm exit closed, his body had almost passed through.
But as Hua Jian shut the exit, everything from his thigh down vanished into space fragments. Compared to his life, that injury was nothing.
The severed limb did weaken the Chai Family Patriarch a bit, but he still pursued A Meng at lightning speed.
It wouldn’t be long before A Meng was forced into a confrontation!
We just need to buy some time—just a bit more! Hua Jian took advantage of the moment to break free from the awkward closeness with Linglong and glanced back.
The collapse of the passage was accelerating. The Chai Family Patriarch, though seeming to chase them, was also running for his life.
As long as they could create obstacles, the passage itself would finish him off.
“My Spirit Tools are all used up,” Linglong said first, meaning she was completely out of options to stop the Chai Family Patriarch.
She was the Saintess, but all her available Spirit Tools had been consumed in the previous battle. Even the pill she just gave Hua Jian was something she wasn’t supposed to use casually.
Using it meant her training path was basically half-ruined.
If she’d had a Spirit Tool as powerful as the pill, she might have held off the Chai Family Patriarch—but she didn’t.
As for Hua Jian, even less likely. All her attribute bullets were spent, and ordinary Maze Mist Bullets were useless against the Chai Family Patriarch.
She was in no state to use Magic Mist to capture his soul.
For a while, neither could think of a solution.
“Then I’ll go!” A Meng suddenly said to Hua Jian.
“You can’t beat him, and…” Hua Jian shook her head at once.
She guessed A Meng wanted to sacrifice herself to hold back the Chai Family Patriarch so they could escape.
But she didn’t think things had reached that point. They could probably get out of the Secret Realm before he caught up. Once outside, they’d be safe.
At worst, Fenghua Venerable would strike down the Chai Family Patriarch, Linglong’s trial would fail, but A Meng didn’t need to make such a sacrifice.
But A Meng didn’t know they had backup—she only knew that if she didn’t act, the killer would catch up.
“I don’t need this body—so long as you’re here, I won’t die for good!”
“What?”
A Meng offered no more explanation. She flung Hua Jian and Linglong toward the passage exit, then turned and charged straight at the Chai Family Patriarch.
As she flew, her colorful wings seemed to ignite. At that moment, the power she unleashed was no less than the Chai Family Patriarch’s.
This was a move a life could only use once—a true, life-burning shot at victory.
Before Hua Jian could even land, A Meng collided with the Chai Family Patriarch.
A seven-colored explosion blossomed in the passage. The Chai Family Patriarch’s speed was brought to a dead halt by A Meng’s self-destruct, even forcing him back two steps.
And those two steps sealed his doom.
“This can’t be…” He tried to run, but the space fissures enveloping him were merciless.
Under Hua Jian’s gaze, this Ling Emperor who would stop at nothing for power silently shattered, unable to resist the force of collapsing space.
As the Chai Family Patriarch died completely, a faint, colorful light shot from that direction and plunged into Hua Jian’s chest.
“A Meng’s soul?” Hua Jian didn’t really know, but she could feel her contract with A Meng still existed—meaning A Meng hadn’t died like the Chai Family Patriarch.
Thinking of what A Meng said before self-destructing, Hua Jian didn’t feel too sad. For A Meng, perhaps self-destruction was just a particularly costly skill.
Now she felt as though her soul was being carried through the air, and with Linglong unleashing her full Thunderflash movement technique, their souls narrowly pulled them both through the passage before the collapse reached them.
If they’d been even a little slower, the space jade token from Fenghua Venerable would’ve been their only option.
Warm sunlight from the outside shone on them, and a terrifying aura of spatial collapse roared behind.
For the first time, Hua Jian felt she was truly alive.
She’d had enough of this thrill-ride of risking her life. Her poor heart couldn’t take it.
Looking back at the way they’d come, Hua Jian saw the golden gate crumbling, the whole space trembling, making her feel sick and dizzy.
Thankfully, Central Continent’s space was robust. Even with a Secret Realm self-destructing here, it only produced a few fleeting cracks.
But compared to the vanished Secret Realm, a bigger problem appeared before Hua Jian.
Everyone knew the Chai Family Patriarch had entered alone, but did he come by himself?
Of course not!
He’d brought people to seal off the Secret Realm and stop other cultivators from entering. Among them, the number of Ling Kings was at least as many as Bai Su had brought.
“Where is the Patriarch? Why didn’t he come out? Did you kill him?” A hot-tempered Ling King stormed over and began to interrogate them about what happened.
Linglong frowned slightly—she didn’t know how to answer.
If she told the truth, these Chai family loyalists might kill her.
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