Hua Jian felt no shock at this change; instead, she felt a sense of relief, as if things were finally going as expected.
The first Secret Realm had been the same way.
Once a Cultivator figured out how to deal with the stone pillars, the BOSS would go berserk and could leave the platform to hunt them down.
The solution was quite simple.
“Goodbye, Senior Sister! I’ll come back to play with you tomorrow!”
With that, Hua Jian turned around and bolted, refusing to linger for even a second.
Even if she set fire to the surrounding plants now, it would be useless. Resetting the stone pillars required someone else’s help, and she couldn’t handle that kind of work alone.
However, while fleeing, Hua Jian noticed another detail. Even though Xiao Qi could now attack her while she was off the platform, the woman still didn’t leave the area above the flowers.
‘Could it be that Xiao Qi’s restriction is that she cannot leave the range of the flowers? Is she forced to use only those vines and petals to fight her enemies?’
This was a significant restriction. In exchange, she was likely able to exert her full strength without any reservations.
Those tough vines scattered across the high platform were no easier to deal with than the enemies from the previous two Secret Realms.
Combined with the special environment of this Forbidden Land, an ordinary Cultivator would certainly have the luck to enter but not the life to leave.
Compared to Hua Jian, who was fleeing in a disheveled state, Linglong’s exit was quite easy. Xiao Qi already knew Linglong’s identity, so she naturally had no intention of attacking her.
Linglong walked out of Xiao Qi’s attack range without a single leaf touching her. Her calm and composed manner made Hua Jian’s teeth itch with annoyance.
“Talk about double standards! Why didn’t she attack you?”
“Because I won’t attack her, so she won’t attack me.” Linglong spread her small hands, indicating that not everyone was treated the same. “Who told you to be a candidate right now?”
“Hmph, shut up, you loser!” Stifled by Linglong’s words, Hua Jian stomped her foot in annoyance and turned to walk out of the Forbidden Land.
Exploring this Forbidden Land had only taken her about half a day. If she went back now, she should return to the camp right as it turned dark.
Thinking this, Hua Jian took out her Flying Sword and signaled Linglong to jump on with an ill-tempered gesture.
Games and bickering aside, she couldn’t actually leave Linglong behind.
Linglong lightly tapped her toes and leaped onto the Flying Sword she had lent to Hua Jian, reaching out to wrap her arms around Hua Jian’s waist.
They had arrived the same way. As for the reason… it was probably because Linglong was afraid Hua Jian’s driving skills were so poor she might fall off?
Of course, what Hua Jian was thinking was that Linglong simply wanted to take liberties with her…
After all, she, Hua Jian, was such a sweet and delicious young girl. It was only natural for a big villain to be interested in her, wasn’t it?
With these strange thoughts in mind, Hua Jian silently steered the Flying Sword out of the Sea of Flowers and back into the sprawling jungle.
The first half of the journey went smoothly. However, about halfway back, Hua Jian noticed several Cultivators in the forest below who were clearly in a bad state.
She instinctively stopped the Flying Sword and descended slightly. After a careful observation, she quickly made a judgment: these Cultivators were all poisoned.
The Cultivators were aware of this too. They were constantly stuffing Antidote Pills into their mouths, but the effect was minimal.
An ominous black aura had already appeared on their faces. They would likely be sent out of the Secret Realm soon due to the deep poisoning.
Rustle!
Hua Jian jumped down from the sky and cupped her hands toward the group, who had been alerted by the sound. “Fellow Cultivators, you don’t look so good.”
These Cultivators no longer had the energy to be on guard. Regardless of whether Hua Jian was a friend or foe, they didn’t have much time left on their life countdowns.
If Hua Jian was a villain, they would just leave the Secret Realm a little earlier. It wasn’t a big loss.
“Little girl, you don’t know. There’s a ghost haunting that area right now. No one dares to stay there anymore,” a young Cultivator who wasn’t yet deeply poisoned explained to Hua Jian with a look of helplessness.
Starting a few days ago, cases of unexplained poisoning began to appear in the Eastern Jungle. A large number of Cultivators had to leave the Secret Realm because of this mysterious poison.
No one knew what was going on, but it was clear they couldn’t stay in the Eastern Jungle anymore, so they began migrating toward the center.
In the end, even that didn’t help. Halfway through their flight, they had somehow been poisoned as well.
It was a potent poison that even Poison-Dispelling Pills couldn’t cure, leaving them with no choice but to sit here and wait for death.
“Such a thing is happening?” After hearing their story, Hua Jian became curious.
‘Could this be the Saint Sect’s method of forcing the Cultivators toward the center of the Secret Realm?’
‘If you want to stay on the outskirts and slack off, you’ll be poisoned and kicked out!’
She instinctively turned to look at Linglong, only to find that Linglong was still hovering in the sky, refusing to come down.
She really meant it when she said she wouldn’t interfere. She wouldn’t even set foot on the ground.
“You didn’t know?” The Cultivators were also surprised.
This matter had spread widely among those in the jungle, yet Hua Jian looked like she was hearing it for the first time.
It was truly strange.
“I’ve been attacking a Forbidden Land in the central region these past few days. Naturally, I wouldn’t know about the things happening in the east.” Hua Jian shook her head.
She wasn’t one to slack off, so she hadn’t encountered these penalties.
Her words caused the fleeing Cultivators to show expressions of shock. So, the Forbidden Lands could actually be attacked?
Incredible. This person must be one of those legendary Heavenly Talents.
“Can you let me see what kind of poison you’ve been hit with?” Hua Jian continued.
She couldn’t guarantee that these poisons would be confined to the Eastern Jungle.
It was possible her side would be affected later. At that time, having sufficient experience would be crucial.
The poisoned Cultivators looked at each other. Most of them showed expressions of wariness, unwilling to let Hua Jian examine their bodies.
Only the young Cultivator who had first answered Hua Jian’s question thought for a moment before agreeing to be her test subject.
“I’m not sure what kind of poison this is either, but even the Antidote Pills bought from the Wanling Sect can’t dissolve it. It must be a very powerful toxin.”
As he spoke, the young Cultivator rolled up his pant leg and pointed to his ankle, which had turned completely purplish-blue.
“At first, I only felt a slight stinging pain in my ankle. Later, the pain became more intense, and I realized I might have been poisoned. These fellow Daoists are the same as me, but the location where the initial signs of poisoning appeared is different.”
Some were on their hands, some on their feet, and some on their necks.
Hua Jian observed the attire of these poisoned Cultivators and noticed that the places where they were first poisoned seemed to be areas with less clothing cover.
‘Could it be because of the lack of clothing?’
“Have you considered poisonous insect bites?”
“There’s nothing here but trees and grass. After staying here for so many days, there hasn’t been a single living thing besides us. How could there be poisonous insects?” another Cultivator couldn’t help but retort.
This Secret Realm was specifically used to hold the Ascension Gathering. Its natural environment was vastly different from other Secret Realms.
Here, there was nothing besides people. The occasional Spirit Beasts seen were the Contract Spirit Beasts of Cultivators and weren’t native to the area.
Therefore, the poisonous insects Hua Jian mentioned shouldn’t exist.
Moreover, if it really were poisonous insects, how powerful would they have to be to poison so many of them unknowingly? And with a poison that couldn’t be cured by Antidote Pills?
“Then there’s no other possibility. Can you find another reason?” Hua Jian snapped back.
The Cultivator who had retorted froze. He really couldn’t think of another reason.
If they hadn’t been completely unable to guess the cause of their poisoning, they wouldn’t be sitting here waiting for death, would they?
Meanwhile, Hua Jian used a vine to wrap around the young Cultivator’s ankle, bringing it close to her eyes for careful observation.
Under the influence of the toxin, the boy’s foot had become slightly swollen.
The ominous purplish-blue color had spread across the entire foot, and the flesh in some places had even begun to ulcerate, making it nearly impossible for Hua Jian to find any valuable clues.
Since she couldn’t find it with the naked eye, Hua Jian had to use some cheating methods.
“Bear with it. This might hurt a bit.”
“Huh? Ugh!”
Before the boy could react, he felt a thousand needles piercing his heart in the foot that had gradually been losing sensation. The pain was so intense his face briefly turned pale.
This was far too painful!