Furthermore, the suspicion that Hua Jian was from Myriad Flower Valley would be slightly lessened.
After all, how could anyone from Myriad Flower Valley know the meaning of shame?
Those people loved nothing more than rolling around in bed with others, regardless of gender!
However, she couldn’t be certain Hua Jian was fine. Maybe Hua Jian was just acting?
Therefore, she had to keep a sharp eye on her!
She couldn’t miss a single one of Hua Jian’s moves!
……
The next morning, Hua Jian got up early and flew toward a nearby Forbidden Land with Linglong.
The Forbidden Lands in the Secret Realm weren’t too far apart.
Each was about a little less than half a day’s journey from the next.
The time to travel from the edge of the Secret Realm to the Core Region was even shorter, allowing a Spirit Master Realm Cultivator to cross the distance within half a day.
This Secret Realm wasn’t actually that large. Flying from one end to the other would take 2 or 3 days of non-stop flight at most.
Given the 15-day exploration period, if the Secret Realm were too large, the Cultivators might not even finish exploring or meet each other before the doors closed. That would be a bit boring.
Therefore, compared to the number of Cultivators who had entered, the Secret Realm was on the smaller side.
“It’s already been 7 days. Has no one else thought about conquering a Forbidden Land?” While flying toward their destination on her Flying Sword, Hua Jian whispered, wondering where everyone else had gone.
In the first Lava Forbidden Land, she had technically beaten everyone to it. The people who came to steal the credit were the ones she had brought along.
On the second day, in the Thunder Forbidden Zone, there indeed had been people trying to conquer it, but they were a bunch of nobodies. Hua Jian figured that for a Forbidden Land of this level, a normal conquest team should at least be led by someone from the ten Heavenly Talents.
But that squad, which had miserably exited after the Thunder Dragon exploded, clearly lacked such a powerful presence.
This made Hua Jian very curious. Where were all the Heavenly Talents?
They couldn’t all be obsessed with infighting, could they?
She didn’t know that she had actually guessed correctly. Except for Shiqi, whom she had abducted, the other talents were all playing at large-scale military warfare over at the Western Great Grassland.
While she was playing team-based BOSS raids here, they were playing on a massive battlefield.
She probably wouldn’t see anyone coming from there for a few days, nor would she know what those talents were up to.
“The Forbidden Lands are very dangerous. Plus, the aura of the Stone Pillars deters living creatures from approaching. It’s only normal for weaker Cultivators to be afraid to get close,” Linglong explained, then pointed into the distance to remind her, “The Forbidden Land is just ahead. Be careful.”
“I’ve already cleared two. Don’t worry.” Hua Jian indicated that she had plenty of experience now and Linglong didn’t need to worry.
The five Forbidden Lands in the central part of the Secret Realm roughly divided the area into five equal sections. The first one Hua Jian conquered, the Lava Forbidden Land, was in the north. The second, the Thunder Forbidden Zone, was in the northeast.
At this point, the location of the third one she had to deal with was obvious: it was in the southeast of the central region.
The further south they went, the higher the temperature became. But after entering this Forbidden Land, Hua Jian felt the temperature around her drop significantly.
It became a temperature she found quite comfortable. Furthermore, the flowers of all sizes blooming in the Secret Realm were completely different from the first two Forbidden Lands; it wasn’t eerie or terrifying at all.
“The person stationed here should be a senior from Lingcai Peak of the Wanling Sect.” Seeing the scene before her, Hua Jian had a guess as to who she was about to face.
Penglai and Yaochi were already out. The Sword Sect and the Tiandao Sect wouldn’t do something like this. There was only one option left.
‘A senior from Lingcai Peak?’ Hua Jian scratched her head, and the image of a certain Senior Sister flashed through her mind.
‘Hiss. Thinking about it, Senior Sister Xiao Qi really does fit the criteria for a BOSS. She just recently entered the Inner Sect, is a Ling King, and has a connection with me.’
She could only hope that for the sake of their friendship, the Senior Sister wouldn’t hit too hard.
Hua Jian looked as far as she could. Everywhere she looked was a sea of flowers.
A thick Flower Fragrance drifted through the air, masking all other scents.
Linglong’s evaluation next to her confirmed some of Hua Jian’s suspicions: “There is poison in this Flower Fragrance. Normal Cultivators would quickly have their five senses stimulated to the point of malfunction, losing their sense of direction.”
This Flower Sea Forbidden Zone looked incredibly beautiful, but its danger level was likely higher than the first two.
The first two Forbidden Lands had shown their blades openly. This Forbidden Land was a “knife hidden in a smile.”
A hidden knife was much harder to guard against than an open one. It was only because the person entering was Hua Jian that she wasn’t affected by the Flower Fragrance.
After flying through the Flower Sea for a while, a massive pillar appeared in Hua Jian’s field of vision. This was the very center of the Forbidden Land.
This Stone Pillar was entwined with various climbing plants. The text on it was completely obscured by green leaves and colorful flowers. Hua Jian didn’t dare touch the plants for the moment, fearing that a single touch might trigger something catastrophic.
Near the Stone Pillar was a platform similar to the ones in the previous two realms. However, the difference was that in the center of this platform grew a massive flower bud ready to bloom. Its branches and Vines completely occupied the platform. It was easy to imagine what kind of attack someone challenging it would face.
Hua Jian jumped off her Flying Sword, landed next to the platform, and observed it carefully.
The Vines of that massive plant were well-contained within the platform. It was clearly the same restriction as the first Secret Realm: it couldn’t attack Cultivators outside the tower.
Sensing the aura of this large flower, Hua Jian was surprised to find that the flower itself wasn’t powerful. However, within that bud was a very terrifying power.
‘So the BOSS will jump out of the bud after I get on the platform?’
After thinking for a moment, Hua Jian cautiously jumped onto the platform.
The Vines twitched and then went silent again.
‘Eh? It felt like those Vines were about to attack but were being forcibly controlled by some power.’
With her confusion in tow, Hua Jian continued toward the center of the platform. This time, the Vines no longer allowed her to move freely and built up layered walls in front of her.
Hua Jian punched them twice. These Vines were very hard; even using her Ling Sword would be difficult.
“Leave now, and I will not hold you accountable for trespassing in the Forbidden Land.” A voice, struggling to restrain its emotions, echoed in Hua Jian’s ears.
The bud at the center of the platform slowly opened, and Xiao Qi, dressed in a rather gaudy gown of petals, appeared before Hua Jian.
Hua Jian covered her face and let out a long sigh. ‘It really is you, Senior Sister Xiao!’
It was obvious that Xiao Qi herself found the outfit unacceptable. Her face was incredibly red as she spoke.
It would have been fine if she were facing a stranger, but the person who came happened to be the only examinee who knew her. It really made her want to find a hole to crawl into.
“Senior Sister Xiao, you look quite pretty in that outfit, ha…” Hua Jian didn’t know what to say for a moment. She couldn’t exactly say the clothes were tacky, could she?
Aside from being a bit flashy, the gown was actually quite beautiful. If a cold and aloof woman wore it, it would create an aura of a queen of flowers.
But Xiao Qi wasn’t cold or aloof at all. She was more like a big dog living in a cold region—commonly known as a Husky.
She really didn’t suit this outfit, especially since Hua Jian knew her true nature. It felt like a pet Husky trying to act like a wolf king.
“Laugh if you want. You won’t be laughing in a moment. Take this!”
The entire platform began to shake. The Vines covering the platform finally moved, attacking Hua Jian from all directions.
Hua Jian hurriedly drew her Ling Sword and slashed at the massive Vines. But upon contact, she was sent flying back.
‘Senior Sister might be a ditz, but she’s also truly strong.’
As she was being sent flying, a thought occurred to Hua Jian: ‘This isn’t right.’
The combat strength Xiao Qi displayed was even greater than that of the Penglai Strongman in the Lava Forbidden Land. If this were the case, who could possibly defeat Xiao Qi?
The Saint Sect couldn’t have placed an unbeatable enemy here. She must have overlooked something…
Adjusting her posture in the air, Hua Jian charged back toward Xiao Qi at the center of the platform as if she weren’t convinced. Once the battle started, Xiao Qi stopped worrying about appearances. her movements became gradually wider and more powerful.
Fighting Xiao Qi was a completely different experience from the previous two battles. It felt as if Hua Jian were truly fighting a powerful plant, which made it difficult for her to adapt.
However, as the number of hits she took increased, Hua Jian finally noticed a detail: Xiao Qi had only been using the Vines and branches to attack her, while her body never left the flower bud.
‘Could that be the restriction Xiao Qi is under? She can only stay within the range of the flower bud and use the Vines and branches for long-range attacks.’
“How dare you be distracted! Take my Flying Flower Blades!”
Floating above the blooming flower, Xiao Qi waved her hand. Several petals immediately detached from the flower beneath her and flew toward Hua Jian’s head.
Hua Jian didn’t dare be careless and immediately used the Flying Flower Escape to dodge the incoming petals.
Some of the petals smashed into the ground, burying themselves deep into the platform. Others swerved in the air and continued to chase Hua Jian.
The petals that had sunk into the ground didn’t stay down for long either. They quickly pulled themselves out and flew toward Hua Jian.
Seeing this, Hua Jian didn’t even think before finding an opportunity to fly off the platform.
‘You’re kidding. If I keep fighting, Xiao Qi will turn me into a sliced salad.’
After she left the platform, Xiao Qi’s offensive also stopped.
Recalling the petals dancing in the air back to the flower, she cleared her throat. she wanted to say something but seemed to have forgotten her lines.
Under Hua Jian’s speechless gaze, she looked around at her feet, picked up a palm-sized petal, and began to read in a monotone: “Consider yourselves lucky today, intruders. If not for this King’s mercy, I would have ensured you remained in this Flower Sea forever!”
‘Oh! She’s giving clues for passing!’ Hua Jian quickly memorized what Xiao Qi was saying.
“Leave quickly! Do not think about approaching that Stone Pillar, and do not think about using fire to burn the Vines on it.”
‘Got it. I need to burn those Vines with fire.’
“If the Stone Pillar is returned to its place, this Flower Sea will cease to exist, and even I will—”
‘It seems I really do need to return the Stone Pillar,’ Hua Jian nodded. The hint wasn’t that important; how could she not know how important the Stone Pillar was?
“Senior Sister, if I pull those Vines off, will you come down and hit me?” Hua Jian shouted to Xiao Qi.
“You can try.” Xiao Qi crouched down and looked at Hua Jian with a grin.
Seriously, that expression completely wasted the beautiful gown she was wearing.
‘What kind of Queen of Flowers looks like that?’
“By the way, why didn’t your companion come up to help you? She looks a bit familiar…” Xiao Qi finally turned her gaze toward Linglong, who had been watching the show from below the platform. She had heard Linglong’s name before, but at the moment, she couldn’t connect that name to the girl beside Hua Jian.
After all, the Saintess of Yaochi had been a disciple for a long time. Why would she be in the Ascension Gathering, standing beside Hua Jian?
So when she heard Hua Jian’s introduction of Linglong, her mouth fell open.
“Wow! So you can actually stay in the Secret Realm to play even after being defeated? Hua Jian, don’t you dare kick me out later!”
‘Senior Sister, could you show a little more dignity?’ Hua Jian covered her face. She felt that if Xiao Qi acted like this, she would be severely disciplined by the other sisters of the Wanling Sect once she got out.
She was too much of a ditz. It was embarrassing!
Hua Jian stopped paying attention to Xiao Qi, who was still watching the show from the flower, and walked toward the Stone Pillar.
She reached out and grabbed the Vines wrapped around the pillar. She pulled hard and found that they were incredibly tough. She couldn’t budge them even with her full strength.
She tried cutting them with her Ling Sword, but the results weren’t great either. Although she could cut them, the pillar was so large that she didn’t know how long it would take to clear them all.
‘Is it really like Xiao Qi said? Can only fire be used?’
With that thought, Hua Jian took two Fire Stones out of her Storage Pouch. She also pulled out a bottle of something with a pungent smell, poured it over the Vines, and struck the stones.
A spark landed on the liquid-soaked Vines, and they quickly caught fire. But the fire came and went just as quickly, dying out in no time.
The Vines that had been burned were only slightly scorched on the surface, looking as if to say, ‘Is that it?’
“Hahaha! How could my Vines fear ordinary fire? There was once a powerful Ling King who tried to burn me, but unfortunately, he was eaten by me before he could even start. His bones are buried beneath this Stone Pillar.”
“I see…” Hua Jian punched her palm. ‘So the real clue was hidden here!’
She took two steps back and extended several Vines from her ankles into the ground. She began searching for the bones Xiao Qi had mentioned.
A moment later, she found what she was looking for about 1 meter deep in the ground.
Using her Vines to dig up the earth, what appeared before Hua Jian was a skeleton that had been smashed into pieces, along with a bright red Storage Pouch that emitted a scorching heat.
“What! You actually found that item? Damn it!”
Accompanied by Xiao Qi’s scripted reading, Hua Jian felt as if all the surrounding flowers had come to life at once, displaying immense hostility toward her.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.