“Sister Ma, Sister Ma, these are the Storage Pouches from those two Magic Path cultivators!”
Why did Hua Jian leave behind three Storage Pouches? One was definitely hers, but the other two — those were definitely not hers.
Those two pouches belonged to the two Magic Path cultivators she had just outsmarted. Naturally, she kept them to gain some extra benefits.
Just exchanging them directly for five Spirit Stones would be too much of a loss. Wouldn’t it be better to use them to do someone a favor?
Although Hua Jian occasionally cursed at the lousy planners, if there was a chance to get on their good side, there was no need to refuse, right?
Hearing Hua Jian’s call, Sister Ma, who was lost in thought, snapped back to reality and looked at the two Storage Pouches in Hua Jian’s hand.
Being a clever person who worked at Linglong Pavilion and had come up with such a sneaky mission flow, Sister Ma immediately understood Hua Jian’s intention.
“No wonder those two Magic Path cultivators didn’t have Storage Pouches on them — you took them away.” Taking the pouches from Hua Jian, Sister Ma smiled and said, “You won’t miss out on the reward for reporting. Leave me an address, and I’ll send it to you later.”
“I don’t have a fixed place to stay anyway. I’ll come get it myself later…”
Before Hua Jian could finish, hurried footsteps sounded nearby. Linglong left Ziwan and rushed over, pressing a Storage Pouch into her hand.
“What’s this…”
“I have urgent matters to attend to back at the sect. Consider this as your reward this time.”
Linglong firmly insisted Hua Jian accept the Storage Pouch, then glanced back repeatedly as she walked toward Ziwan, strangely resembling a lovestruck girl forced to part from her beloved by elder pressure.
Our relationship isn’t that deep yet, is it? Hua Jian opened the pouch and glanced inside, suddenly gasping.
There were only three items inside — the three Spirit Tools Linglong had shown her earlier.
“Wait…”
“Until we meet again!”
Hua Jian raised her hand to stop her, but Linglong had already been pulled away by Ziwan, vanishing in a flash of white light.
Her raised hand slowly fell back, and a faint sadness flickered across Hua Jian’s face, as if mourning the departure of a friend.
Sister Ma glanced at Hua Jian and sighed, “Ah, you and her are from different worlds. It’s best to let go early.”
She felt she understood — Hua Jian and Linglong must have sparked a romantic flame in the Secret Realm, but due to the gap in their status, they could only part ways here, never to meet again.
Sigh, such a sad story indeed…
“No, she didn’t give me any Spirit Stones! Without Spirit Stones, how am I supposed to eat?” Hua Jian wailed, clutching her head, clearly not sad about Linglong leaving.
She admitted the reward Linglong gave was generous — the value of those three Spirit Tools was indeed high — but she couldn’t convert them into Spirit Stones.
“Uh…”
“Sister Ma, when will the reward for reporting the Magic Path cultivators be issued?”
Helpless, Hua Jian could only pin her hopes on the report reward arriving soon.
“It’ll take a few more days. We have to wait for the Hudaosi to verify the Magic Path cultivators’ identities before they can issue the reward. Meanwhile, you can stay in a guest room at Linglong Pavilion.”
……
Over the next few days, Hua Jian stayed in the guest room arranged by Sister Ma, gradually easing herself out of the tense Secret Realm mindset and into a more relaxed daily state.
She learned Sister Ma’s real name and even befriended Sister Ma’s junior apprentice, picking up plenty of insider information.
For example, the Spirit Items inside the Secret Realm were all planted by Linglong Pavilion itself, with many rare items appearing in the form of Duihuan Quan.
Hua Jian’s pouch of Mirage Incense was a special case. To Linglong Pavilion, it was just some scraps, so they carelessly tossed it into the Secret Realm as a reward.
Even the Spirit Beasts inside the Secret Realm were raised by Linglong Pavilion.
After the previous Spirit Beast was defeated, the pavilion threw in a new replacement Spirit Beast within an hour.
It was said that day’s Secret Realm core was lively indeed, filled with cultivators shouting curses everywhere.
“Hua Jian, Sister Ma is calling you.”
A soft knock sounded at the door, and the junior apprentice’s voice came from outside.
Hua Jian put down the ancient book that was giving her a headache and stuffed it into her Storage Pouch. “Okay, I’m coming.”
She had bought the book a couple of days ago at a nearby cultivator market. The cultivator selling it claimed it came from the core area of a ruined city Secret Realm.
Of course, Hua Jian didn’t believe it. But she was quite interested in ancient texts, and after some bargaining, she bought it for two Spirit Stones.
Ancient books were naturally hard to read. With Hua Jian’s self-taught classical reading ability, she could only tell it seemed to be a storybook from long ago.
No cultivation methods, no secret manuals — there was no way such valuable treasures would be left in a Secret Realm developed by Linglong Pavilion.
“Xiao Xiaojie, what’s the mission this time?”
Sister Ma’s junior apprentice was named Su Xiaoxiao. After becoming familiar, Hua Jian affectionately called her Xiao Xiaojie.
Since most people she met now were older than her, calling them “sister” was perfectly fine.
“The Hudaosi is here to investigate the Magic Path issue. You’re a key witness, so they definitely want to question you,” Su Xiaoxiao explained.
The Hudaosi was an institution set up by the Saint Sects to counter the Magic Path — essentially a Jinyiwei, specially tasked with preventing Magic Path infiltration by any means.
Suddenly, Hua Jian felt a bad premonition. Would the Hudaosi think she was a bad person, an accomplice of the Magic Path?
After all, what she did inside the Secret Realm did involve some sneaky tricks…
“Don’t worry so much. The team leader this time is a sister from Yaoci Sect. She’s very kind,” Su Xiaoxiao comforted softly upon sensing Hua Jian’s unease.
Kind? But anyone working in a place like this couldn’t possibly have a good temper, right?
In all the dramas she’d watched since childhood, the Jinyiwei and East and West Bureaus never had anyone nice. Hua Jian’s fear was understandable.
“I hope what I did in the Secret Realm won’t get me arrested?”
“No, inside the Secret Realm, anything goes. As long as you didn’t use Magic Path methods, the Hudaosi won’t arrest you. Did you use any Magic Path techniques?”
Hua Jian shook her head vigorously. Her first contact with the Magic Path was those two black-clad men; before that, she didn’t even know what Magic Path was.
A cultivator who doesn’t know Magic Path can’t possibly use Magic Path techniques. She wasn’t a prodigy born with Magic Path blood, after all.