“Do you feel… that Xia Hui has become a lot more lively?”
Being held in Linglong’s embrace, Hua Jian felt a bit uncomfortable and wriggled slightly, asking in a soft voice.
Although they had only been apart for less than two days, she felt as if three years had passed without seeing each other.
Especially the Dragon Girl’s cool, delicate little face, it was like a feather gently brushing against her heart, making Hua Jian once again realize that she might be a sucker for pretty faces.
Feeling awkward, she wasn’t sure what to say, so she just made small talk with Linglong about Xia Hui.
If she hadn’t noticed anything unusual at first, then as time went on, Hua Jian felt more and more that something was off about Xia Hui.
She was just too active, too different from her previous self, as if she were deliberately carrying out some kind of mission.
“Really?”
“You haven’t spent much time with her, so of course you can’t tell, but the things she gave me… I don’t think she could have obtained them herself.”
As she spoke, Hua Jian took out the half-full bottle of Flower God Condensate from her storage pouch.
When she opened the bottle and the delicate fragrance wafted out, the Dragon Girl’s pupils instantly constricted.
Although just smelling it couldn’t reveal everything, the scent was enough to indicate something.
“Flower God Condensate, do you know what this is?”
“Hmm, I think I’ve read about it in some book. It’s a treasure from Wanhuagu.”
Linglong took the condensate from Hua Jian’s hand, looking somewhat puzzled at the colored liquid inside.
She didn’t know much about Wanhuagu and had naturally never seen this treasure in person, only heard of its name.
“For the cultivators of Wanhuagu, this is roughly equivalent to a very potent alchemy pill, but how could Xia Hui have something like this?”
If anyone else had pulled out something like this, Linglong would definitely suspect they were a Wanhuagu spy, but Xia Hui…
Didn’t she have deep-seated hostility with Wanhuagu?
“I’m not sure either. We actually don’t know much about Xia Hui. If she really has reconnected with Wanhuagu, what would her goal be?” Hua Jian wasn’t that concerned about who might be behind Xia Hui.
At least from what she could see now, everything Xia Hui did was to help her, to wholeheartedly assist her in growing stronger within the Secret Realm.
Who cares if it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat.
“If you can’t figure it out, don’t think about it. You were just trapped by those people with an array formation, weren’t you injured?” Linglong patted Hua Jian’s head. This kind of baseless speculation was completely meaningless.
Knowing Xia Hui might have problems, just be more vigilant. Once the Ascension Gathering is over, everything will become clear.
“Those black-clothed cultivators couldn’t hurt me. In the end, they used a Space Exile type array formation. I just feel a bit dizzy now.”
Hua Jian slightly pulled down her collar, letting Linglong see her body covered by the Spiritual Garment.
With this Spiritual Garment, she was basically invincible in the Secret Realm. Others might fear attacks that bypass defenses, but Hua Jian wasn’t afraid at all.
This was one of the perks of not being human.
Linglong sternly pressed Hua Jian’s hand down, seriously telling her that a young lady shouldn’t make such suggestive movements.
If she weren’t a proper person, she might have thought Hua Jian was deliberately trying to seduce her.
Hua Jian looked down at her somewhat flat chest, wondering what kind of pervert could be seduced by something like this.
“In short, it’s not allowed. And it’s even more forbidden when you go to the Wanling Sect in the future, understand?!” Linglong stared into Hua Jian’s eyes.
The righteous aura in her gaze made Hua Jian unable to harbor even a hint of improper thoughts.
‘Is this Dragon Girl too uptight? She won’t find any friends like this!’ Hua Jian silently complained in her heart.
But being under someone else’s roof, she could only nod weakly, indicating she understood and would definitely be a proper person.
“By the way, what’s with that huge pillar of light in the middle of the Secret Realm? Is that the final challenge you mentioned before?”
“I’m not too sure either, but the people who went to check said that within the range of the light pillar, the tokens at their waists would act strangely, as if trying to send them out of the Secret Realm.”
Linglong helped Hua Jian sit on the ground and began drawing a diagram on the ground with her hand.
If those cultivators’ feelings were correct, then the function of this array formation was undoubtedly to allow everyone in the Secret Realm to evacuate safely.
It’s just that now this evacuation channel seemed to be blocked by something, unable to achieve its intended effect.
“Originally, the Venerable’s intention was for us to hold out until the Secret Realm’s time ended. But now they’ve suddenly opened this evacuation channel. It’s possible something unexpected happened, forcing the Venerables to act.” Hua Jian quickly guessed the reason.
Probably, the Venerables initially thought the situation was still under control, but now realized it was gradually becoming urgent and had to pull everyone out.
But they were still a step too late. The evacuation channel had just appeared when it was blocked by a shadow of unknown origin.
And the examinees in the Secret Realm now had no clue either, only able to take things one step at a time and see if they could get more information from outside.
As the two conversed, Xia Hui came running back, puffing her cheeks angrily, and immediately began complaining to Hua Jian about the Sword Hero.
“Miss Hua Jian, that Sword Hero is secretly bad-mouthing you, saying you’re a spy sent by Wanhuagu to disrupt the Secret Realm!”
Hua Jian’s expression didn’t change much. In her heart, the Sword Hero was already a villain, so it was normal for villains to do bad things.
As for calling her a Wanhuagu spy… Not only did the Sword Hero say it, but that little examiner from the Jade Pool had said the same thing before, hadn’t she?
She was used to it. Let them talk.
At worst, after the truth came out, she’d go find each of these guys one by one and demand compensation for damage to her reputation.
Hmph, daring to spread rumors about her, Hua Jian? Their audacity was simply too great!
“Oh.”
“Aren’t you angry, Miss Hua Jian? He’s slandering you. If we don’t do something about it, rumors will definitely spread…”
“Then tell me, how should I handle it? Beat him up directly to make him shut up?”
Hua Jian spread her hands, indicating she currently had no way to make the rumors disappear.
To prove her innocence, only a persuasive big shot could step forward to clear her name, and such a big shot didn’t exist within the Secret Realm.
Linglong and Xiao Qi were indeed on her side, but the other Saint Sect cultivators in the Secret Realm were not.
…
“Of course, if you don’t want to do it yourself, then let me help you shut him up!” Xia Hui waved her small fist, but her voice grew smaller and smaller under Hua Jian’s gaze.
Hua Jian didn’t say a word, just kept staring at Xia Hui until Xia Hui started feeling uneasy inside.
At least, she appeared uneasy on the surface.
“Huh? Then I won’t take action for now?” Xia Hui lowered her head and began poking her fingers, her tone becoming soft and meek.
“We are good people. We can’t do such bad things.” Hua Jian finally spoke.
“Then should good people just be bullied by bad people? I say we should teach those villains a harsh lesson!”
Seeing Xia Hui daring to argue back, Hua Jian felt a bit helpless. This little one seemed to be trying to steer her in a very strange direction.
Towards being the kind of person who does as they please, regardless of what others think, as long as they themselves are happy.
…Hey, don’t even mention it, Hua Jian had also thought about living a life where she could beat up whoever she wanted, but her strength wasn’t enough to live that way.
“It’s not that good people should be bullied, but that fighting with them now is meaningless. Beat one, and there are others. I can’t beat up everyone to make them shut up, can I?”
“As long as Miss Hua Jian says the word, I will definitely try my best to help Miss Hua Jian shut those people’s mouths!”
Looking at Xia Hui’s performance, which was like that of a brainless fan, Hua Jian was completely speechless.
“Did you eat something weird? Where did the considerate, cute little Xia Hui go?”
Facing Hua Jian’s questioning, Xia Hui wasn’t scared at all. She put her hands on her hips. “Right here!”
Her answering tone and posture were full of confidence, but it just didn’t seem like the original Xia Hui.
Hua Jian reached out and pinched that smug little face, pulling it hard to both sides, wanting to tear off any possible human skin mask like in cartoons.
But even after pulling Xia Hui’s face red, the face remained the same, not changing at all.
“Miss Hua Jian, stop pulling my face. It hurts.”
“Dare to disobey me? You deserve to be pulled!”
“Miss Linglong, look at Miss Hua Jian, she’s so mean!”
“Now you’re looking for help? I’m telling you, even if you find the Heavenly King himself today, it won’t help!”
…
“What are these things? Are they also part of the Venerables’ plan?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Strange, why does it feel like the effect of that array formation has appeared here too?”
The black-clothed cultivators, expelled from the Forbidden Land and returned to the Northern Snow Plains, discovered some anomalies in the Secret Realm.
First was that array formation that sealed their strength.
Logically, its effect should only cover the central part of the Secret Realm, but now it had spread to areas outside the central region.
The area they were in was already some distance from the central part of the Secret Realm, yet they were still affected by the strength-sealing effect.
And in the snow plains behind them, some strange things had also appeared.
They were colored vines extending from space.
At first glance, these black-clothed cultivators unanimously thought of the young girl they had fought not long ago.
Similarly colored vines. What could be the relationship between these two?
“What’s the word from outside? They’re not still telling us everything is normal, are they?”
“You guessed right. They say this is a planned phenomenon and we shouldn’t worry.”
“Planned? What the hell kind of planned is this? Does this look planned?!”
A black-clothed sword-wielding cultivator directly drew his sword and pointed it at those colored vines.
Under the grave gazes of the others, he slashed at the Cai Vine.
The blade collided with the vine, easily cutting through the few vines that had extended from space.
But the next moment, the severed vines reconnected, as if his slash had cut nothing.
No, that wasn’t it. After that slash, the black-clothed Jianxiu keenly sensed that something had locked onto him.
He instinctively dodged away from where he had been standing. The moment he escaped, vines covered in barbs tore through that space.
If he hadn’t dodged in time, he might have already fallen to this attack that came without warning.
But this wasn’t the end; it was the beginning. He continuously dodged and weaved through space but couldn’t shake off the sense of crisis. If he stayed in one place for even a moment, the vine’s attack would catch up.
“No good, I can’t deal with it anymore!” The black-clothed Jianxiu dodged for a while longer before finally determining he couldn’t shake the vine’s hostility.
Helplessly, he could only slap the token at his waist heavily. Accompanied by a flash of silver light, his figure disappeared from the Secret Realm.
Actively triggering the token could also transfer one out of the Secret Realm.
And the flesh puppet that replaced him in the Secret Realm had just appeared when it was pierced by countless vines and completely drained.
This manner of death inevitably made the black-clothed cultivators think of that person, the one who died in the same way.
“This isn’t just my thought, right?” One black-clothed cultivator looked at his companions.
Everyone nodded. Anyone who saw this scene would link Hua Jian to these vines.
They look so similar, the killing method is so similar. Who would believe there’s no connection between you?
“Wait, another message from outside… Confirming Hua Jian has issues. The Secret Realm evacuation channel has been opened. They want us to do our utmost to prevent Hua Jian from disrupting the evacuation plan?”
…
Bam!
The black-clad Jianxiu tumbled out of midair in a somewhat awkward state. Just before landing, he managed to regain his balance, avoiding the embarrassment of falling flat on his face.
Seeing him emerge from the Secret Realm, the nearby cultivators quickly surrounded him, ready to cast healing spells to save his life.
“Stop, stop, stop! I came out on my own. Where are the people managing the Secret Realm? I have questions for them!” The Jianxiu hurriedly pushed these healers away and asked about his most pressing concern.
“In the room next door. Are you really not… Hey, wait until I finish asking!”
How could the Jianxiu care about that? He charged aggressively into the next room. Under the puzzled gazes of the cultivators inside, he loudly voiced his confusion.
“You call those colored vines in the Secret Realm a normal phenomenon?”
Before leaving the Secret Realm, he had used a Liu Ying Stone to record the vines. Now with the evidence here, he wanted to see how these guys would explain.
Unexpectedly, after seeing the recording, the cultivators here looked even more surprised than he was.
“What is this? Weren’t you reporting that everything in the Secret Realm was normal?”
The black-clothed Jianxiu and the cultivators here stared at each other. The next moment, cold sweat broke out on everyone’s foreheads.
If the information didn’t match up, it meant things had gone completely wrong. Something dirty was muddying the waters and passing false information among them!
“This is bad! Report this to the Venerable immediately! Something big has happened in the Secret Realm!”
One cultivator hurriedly stood up and ran toward the door, grabbing Jianxiu’s hand along the way.
“You come with me to serve as a witness!”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.