“Not disturbing at all, not disturbing at all. You know more about this Secret Realm than others, and besides, you don’t have anything else to do elsewhere, right?” Hua Jian refused to let Hua Xin leave.
Hua Xin went there just as a supervisor. Would anyone really believe that this Saintess of Ten Thousand Flowers Valley would actually do real work?
By her side, at least Hua Xin would do some work.
For example, she took her to quickly move around the Secret Realm—a Ling Emperor’s speed is several times faster.
“Let’s leave it like this for now. Take me to look at other border areas.”
“Alright, but don’t you need to take these things back?” Hua Xin looked at the colorful branches and leaves that had already firmly taken root in the Chaos Zone, feeling somewhat uneasy.
Hua Jian shook her head, indicating that she didn’t need to take back these branches.
“This Secret Realm has been confirmed to be a disposable item. I’m now arranging a way to destroy it. Currently, the only method I have available is this.”
“These branches will slowly grow at the edge of the Secret Realm, and eventually directly devour the entire Secret Realm. This is the most suitable method Hua Jian can think of right now.”
‘As for whether these branches will take a long time to devour the entire Secret Realm… Anyway, the preliminary preparations are still ongoing, and she has plenty of time to wait for these branches to spread.’
“According to the growth rate of these branches, Hua Jian believes she only needs to arrange some such branches around the Secret Realm to control the speed of its collapse within an acceptable range.”
“A few days are definitely not enough, but it won’t be difficult for Hua Jian to devour this small Secret Realm in one or two months. This will just leave ample time for the upcoming auction’s She He Lian Heng.”
“Allowing the cultivators entering the Secret Realm to make thorough preparations will make this battle meaningful, and the battle will also be more intense.”
Hua Xin understood a bit more. ‘If I understand Hua Jian’s meaning correctly, does she plan to use her own ability to devour the entire Secret Realm?’
‘Resuming an old trade… old habits die hard?’ She didn’t dare to say anything, but a trace of worry arose in her heart.
‘Having such a monster as a Saintess—for me and for Ten Thousand Flowers Valley—is it ultimately good or bad?’
……
In the pitch-black cave, several demonic sect cultivators in white robes sat in a circle, their expressions eerie as they stared at the black array formation surrounded in the center.
Youye stepped forward. A cluster of dark black flame ignited at her fingertip. She bent down and touched her fingertip to the array formation.
In an instant, the entire array formation blazed with fierce black fire. Accompanied by a fleeting terrible pressure, the flames on the array gathered in the air and transformed into a pitch-black long dragon.
“Master!” Youye knelt directly and called out respectfully.
The other Tianmomen cultivators also, together with Youye, shouted in unison: “Exalted One!”
The Black Dragon showed no reaction. Whether it was Youye calling him Master or the others, they all seemed like air in his eyes.
“Have you investigated the matter of the Secret Realm?”
“It’s been investigated. It’s Ten Thousand Flowers Valley pulling the strings behind the scenes. They plan to turn this Secret Realm into…” Youye quickly laid out all the information she had gathered.
Of course, she hadn’t directly believed Hua Jian’s words to her.
Instead, she had multiple people verify from multiple angles before finally confirming that Hua Jian was indeed not lying.
Ten Thousand Flowers Valley was indeed doing exactly that.
“Heh, so Ten Thousand Flowers Valley can only resort to such sneaky tricks this time?” The Black Dragon let out a cold snort, his contempt for Ten Thousand Flowers Valley evident.
“Master, then how should we…”
“Enter the Secret Realm, find the thing I want, and bring it out.” The Black Dragon rudely interrupted Youye’s question.
In his eyes, this was not even worth a question. Since Ten Thousand Flowers Valley had set up this trap, he would turn it against them and break their scheme.
“But…”
“Hmm? Are you all afraid?” The Black Dragon’s tone changed.
An extremely overbearing pressure instantly descended on everyone, pressing those already hardened cultivators flat onto the ground, almost clinging to the floor.
‘We’re dead, we’re dead, we’re dead.’ Everyone had this thought. If they couldn’t explain clearly, they would definitely be ground into meat paste by the furious Dragon Venerable!
“N-no, that’s not what Master thinks!” Youye forced herself to answer sentence by sentence.
The pressure on her body lessened a bit. Youye quickly blurted out what she was worried about.
“Ten Thousand Flowers Valley has already spread this news to the Northern Region. Now, I’m afraid even the Eastern and Western Regions know of the existence of this Secret Realm. There will certainly be many cultivators coming to compete for the treasures.”
“And Ten Thousand Flowers Valley has only provided a very limited number of entry qualifications, requiring us to bid with Spirit Stones. This will be a huge expense that we cannot afford. I hope Master can send someone to bring more Spirit Stones to Frozen Winter City.”
Going into the Secret Realm to risk her life—Youye was not afraid of that, but her current problem was that she couldn’t enter the Secret Realm.
No money, couldn’t afford the entry spot.
“Hmph, a bunch of trash. No one else comes asking me for money, why are you the only ones asking me? Why don’t you come up with your own methods!”
“I don’t care if you steal, rob, or use any other means. If you can’t get that treasure, don’t come back to see me alive!”
But the Black Dragon utterly rejected Youye’s request, directly kicking the ball to the cultivators here.
In any case, the order was to enter the Secret Realm and snatch the thing—whatever method they used was up to them!
With this order, the Black Dragon vanished from the array formation, leaving the demonic sect cultivators looking at each other as if they had survived a calamity.
‘What to do now? They weren’t afraid of fighting, but where were they going to get Spirit Stones?’
‘This was a problem that fighting could solve… Wait, maybe this really was a problem that could be solved by fighting?’
Gasping for breath, Youye coughed twice and slowly got up from the ground. A glint of sharpness flashed in her eyes.
That’s right, they currently had no Spirit Stones, but other people did—especially those cultivators coming to compete for the Secret Realm!
They could target these cultivators, rob their belongings, and then silence them by killing them.
This way, they would not only gain resources for their actions but also reduce the number of opponents.
Kill two birds with one stone!
“Listen to me, here’s what we’ll do next…”
……
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
During this half month, quite a few people had arrived in Frozen Winter City.
Some guests had bad tempers and wanted to cause trouble in the city.
Fortunately, an unknown hero was guarding Frozen Winter City, and none of these guests could stir up any waves.
But there were also some guests who didn’t follow the rules—they had no further chance to follow rules either.
They were now hung on the tall wooden stakes of Frozen Winter City’s walls, their bodies pierced by countless sharp thorns, enduring the cold wind of the Northern Region day and night.
They were not dead, but being alive was worse than death.
Every passerby who heard the screams of these cultivators would have their hair stand on end and suppress any ulterior motives in their hearts.
Anyone could guess that this was a threat from Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.
They were using this method to warn everyone: obey the rules when you enter the city, or you will suffer a fate worse than death here.
“As expected of Ten Thousand Flowers Valley. Their methods are truly terrifying.” A group of people who had come together whispered.
They were local loose cultivators from the Northern Region. In terms of faction, they leaned more towards the Magic Path.
However, these cultivators hadn’t joined any sect and remained free, doing evil deeds as loose cultivators.
Robbing houses, killing people for their goods—such cultivators were not uncommon in the Northern Region, and these were among the best.
Hearing that Ten Thousand Flowers Valley was holding an event, these self-conceited ones came together, wanting to show off their skills and get rich overnight.
But as soon as they arrived at Frozen Winter City, they were given a warning by the living human pillars erected outside the city, witnessing the terror of the genuine demonic sect.
“I heard there’s a group of highway robbers outside the city lately. Too bad we didn’t run into them.”
“That’s right. If we had met them, it’s hard to say who would be robbing who…”
Before the last person could finish speaking, the wind and snow falling from the sky suddenly transformed into colorful flower petals, making these cultivators instinctively become alert.
But unable to see the distant tall city walls, they felt their alertness seemed useless. Could they really encounter any danger here?
The next moment, a faint voice rang in their ears.
“You’re in luck, you made it to Frozen Winter City safe and sound. Looks like you didn’t encounter the gang of bandits outside the city.”
A girl in a colorful skirt emerged from the flower petals. Behind her stood a cultivator with a very strange appearance, frozen in place.
This image… The cultivators’ pupils constricted. Was that the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley Saintess?!
They hadn’t expected the rumors to be true—the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley Saintess was really in Frozen Winter City!
Moreover, her daring to appear so blatantly meant the rumors of a cooperation between the Qian Family and Ten Thousand Flowers Valley were also true.
Before they could even admire Hua Jian’s beauty, their attention was drawn to that standing figure behind Hua Jian.
Staring, their pupils shrank to pinprick size. What? This was actually a cultivator with strength comparable to them?
“Well, no need for more talk. Enter the city and behave yourselves. If you cause any trouble, your end will be the same as his.”
Hua Jian raised her hand and moved it slightly. That eerie-looking cultivator split apart like a puppet and walked over to the side of those stakes.
The next moment, a new wooden stake rose from the ground, nailing this cultivator to it as well.
Compared to the other cultivators who had almost lost their human form completely, this one’s appearance was still decent—he was only shattered by the Spirit Vines, his chest filled with several terrifying vines, and his limbs covered in colorful branches and leaves.
“This…” The newly arrived cultivators were all sweating coldly. At this point, they unanimously had second thoughts.
The Ten Thousand Flowers Valley Saintess was beautiful, but after witnessing this scene, who would dare have any rash thoughts about her?
This was a living Yama!
“If you don’t want to enter the city, that’s fine too. Go that way, there’s a temporary camp arranged for you. However…” Hua Jian paused, revealing a very bright smile. “Safety can’t be guaranteed, you know.”
These cultivators exchanged glances. They felt that no matter how unsafe that temporary camp was, it couldn’t be more unsafe than Hua Jian.
Without a moment’s hesitation, these cultivators who had been doused with a bucket of cold water by Hua Jian chose to temporarily stay at the temporary camp.
Hua Jian watched these cultivators go far away, the smile on her face gradually turning playful.
Well, there were always people who thought they were tough and didn’t fear death. Let them go enjoy true freedom.
After they hit their heads and bled, they would know how simple and wonderful it was to follow the rules.
Gently clapping her hands, Hua Jian disappeared into the flower petals.
Not far away, the city guard soldiers had clearly watched the entire process. By now, they were at a loss for words.
Their feelings towards Hua Jian were very complicated. Not exactly like, not exactly dislike.
Admittedly, the cooperation between Ten Thousand Flowers Valley and Frozen Winter City had allowed some unruly fellows to enter Frozen Winter City, causing several incidents at first.
But in these incidents, the attitude and ability shown by Hua Jian left the soldiers with nothing to criticize.
They had to follow rules when arresting people; even those who committed minor offenses couldn’t be killed outright.
But Hua Jian was different. She seemed to have no concept of holding back.
Prisoners who fell into her hands had only one outcome: becoming landmarks outside the walls of Frozen Winter City.
So the public order in Frozen Winter City was extremely good right now.
Even local thieves in Frozen Winter City didn’t dare cause trouble at this time, afraid they might be misunderstood by Hua Jian and hung outside the city walls as rude outsiders.
For a time, the guard brigade of Frozen Winter City felt almost redundant.
How was the deterrent power of this Demon Path Saintess even stronger than theirs, the good guys?