Chapter 35: Her Highness the Saint, Get on Board!

“Yoho, it’s been a full three years. Finally, someone managed to get their hands on the Golden Scroll I left over there?”

“Compared to that, I think Shijie, you should be paying more attention to these matters!”

With a heavy thud, a young girl dressed in a teal-green dress slammed both hands hard on the table and shouted at the more mature woman sitting opposite her.

“In such a short time, more than ten cultivators have been forced to leave the Secret Realm. Some even bear the aura of what seems to be demonic energy attacks. Shijie, how can you remain so calm? This is a huge crisis!”

“How big of a deal is it? A bunch of Ling Masters causing a ruckus? Xiaoxiao, what do you want to do— round up all the cultivators in the Secret Realm and interrogate them?” The senior sister shrugged, clearly having no better solution.

“Even though I’m the overseer of this Secret Realm, I’d still need approval from the higher-ups to take action. You know the people who just took over are from Jinshimen, and they wouldn’t let me do something like that.”

Forcibly interrupting the cultivators’ exploration inside the Secret Realm means compensating with Spirit Stones, which is practically a death sentence for Linglong Pavilion, where profits come first.

Jinshimen, valuing wealth above all else, is the second largest sect in the Central Continent after the Five Great Sacred Sects.

They have a knack for earning Spirit Stones, which is why the Five Great Sacred Sects assigned them to manage Linglong Pavilion.

Although this Shijie is an outer disciple of Penglai Sacred Sect within the Five Great Sacred Sects, she can’t go head-to-head with the Jinshimen overseers who have backing from their own sect masters.

“I’ve already reported the situation up the chain. How they decide is their business,” the woman shrugged. “What I’m more curious about is how the person who got the Golden Scroll will choose.”

Will they leave the Secret Realm with the Golden Scroll, or will they try to defeat the Spirit Beast and claim the Dragon Scale?

“Sigh, if that person really defeats the Spirit Beast, I’m afraid I’ll be scolded.”

A treasure like the True Dragon Scale has never been considered something Linglong Pavilion would just hand over, which is why they set up so many obstacles.

The Purpleflame Black Tiger guarding the treasure is extremely powerful — among Spirit King-level ranks, it’s a core force.

No matter how talented a Ling Shi Realm cultivator is, they can’t inflict effective harm on it.

The key to defeating the Purpleflame Black Tiger lies in a powerful Golden Scroll hidden inside its lair. To get it, one must stealthily search through the tiger’s den —another difficulty.

How can someone enter the Black Tiger’s lair and find the Golden Scroll hidden deep inside the stone crevices without alerting it?

Once the lair is breached, no matter where the Black Tiger is, it will immediately return to hunt down the intruder.

The time given to the intruder to search is no more than the duration of a single incense stick.

“Didn’t you say your arrangement is flawless? No one can find fault with it?”

“Yes, the Golden Scroll I gave can seriously injure the Black Tiger, but once its move is unleashed, the aftershock will shatter the Space Stone on the user’s body and expel them from the Secret Realm.”

“This move is also tremendously destructive, indiscriminate, capable of obliterating everything within a two-mile radius. Hah, if someone can still survive that and defeat the Black Tiger, I admit defeat.”

Even a severely injured Spirit King Black Tiger isn’t easily defeated by just anyone. Without special abilities, no one poses a real threat to its life.

This entire setup effectively blocks every path to obtaining the True Dragon Scale.

She truly doesn’t believe such a powerful person would come to such a desolate Secret Realm just to fish for treasures!

……

Between stopping while ahead and expanding her gains, Linglong decisively chose the latter.

Her target was the True Dragon Scale.

While the Golden Scroll, which contains a Spirit King’s full-strength strike, is precious to other Ling Masters, to her it was no different than roadside dirt.

Frankly, in Yaoci Holy Sect, Ling Emperors are everywhere, and Spirit Kings are as common as dogs.

Linglong was confident she would break into the Ling Wang Realm in a few years, so this Golden Scroll would be useless to her then.

But the Dragon Scale was different — it was a treasure that would bring her infinite benefits.

Her choice was obvious.

Transforming into a thunderbolt, she charged straight toward the direction the Spirit Beast had left not long ago.

Her lightning speed matched the Spirit Beast’s furious pace. The time the Spirit Beast took to reach Hua Jian’s Array of Bewilderment was about the same as Linglong’s.

Before approaching the array, Linglong swallowed spiritual medicine to resist the Mirage Qi, preventing herself from being controlled by the indiscriminate illusion energy.

As soon as she reached the array, the dense fog, thick as a curtain, parted slightly. Hua Jian emerged from within, wearing a puzzled expression.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

This wasn’t according to her plan, but she figured she could still control the Spirit Beast for a little while longer — enough to discuss their next move with Linglong.

“It’s like this — the Dragon Scale is hidden inside the Spirit Beast’s body…” Linglong spoke rapidly, explaining the current situation and her unwillingness to give up on the chance to obtain the Dragon Scale.

After hearing Linglong’s account, Hua Jian curled her lips. She had suspected it wouldn’t be so simple; Linglong Pavilion’s intentions were indeed sinister.

Who would have thought the True Dragon Scale was a boss drop?

“Give it to me. You step back first,” Hua Jian reached out her hand, demanding the Golden Scroll from Linglong. “I’ll help you blow up the Spirit Beast.”

“Huh?”

“What are you stunned for? Didn’t you say this thing only injures the Spirit Beast? What if this is some kind of self-destruct Spirit Skill? If the Spirit Beast dies, who cleans up the mess? Me?”

The Golden Scroll was a weapon anyone could use, but Hua Jian felt that given Linglong Pavilion’s stingy nature, they wouldn’t make it so easy for whoever obtained the Golden Scroll to defeat the Spirit Beast.

If they were really that kind-hearted, why not just leave the Dragon Scale in the Spirit Beast’s lair directly and avoid all these detours?

There had to be a conspiracy here!

And no battle-hardened person like Hua Jian would be fooled by such schemes.

She was used to assuming the worst about game developers — and Linglong Pavilion was like the game developer in this scenario.

They certainly wouldn’t let players have it easy. So this Golden Scroll definitely had a trap.

“You better step far back. This thing’s power is definitely no joke.” Almost snatching the Golden Scroll from Linglong’s hand, Hua Jian gave this final warning before disappearing back into the mist, moving closer to the Spirit Beast.

At this moment, the Spirit Beast was still indiscriminately attacking everything nearby.

Hua Jian approached the closest possible distance and infused her spiritual power into the Golden Scroll, activating its power.

Once triggered, Hua Jian immediately knew her suspicion was correct — the Golden Scroll was like an atomic grenade.

Whether the Spirit Beast would die or not was uncertain, but she, the thrower, was certainly doomed.

At that moment, Hua Jian still had the leisure to think strange thoughts and mutter odd words.

“Saintess Dianxia, board!”

The moment she shouted this, she felt a strong pulling sensation.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a familiar hall.