Do the cultivators of this great sect not know how to judge the value of items? Something this pitifully low in single-slot value is despised even by Hua Jian, yet he treats it like a treasure.
I really don’t know if he was testing Hua Jian or if he truly believed that.
After some back-and-forth, the Heavenly Dao Sect inner disciple, with an embarrassed expression, accepted the treasure Hua Jian offered.
Perhaps to make amends, he asked if she wanted to accompany him to explore the core region of the Secret Realm.
Hua Jian decisively declined the invitation. First, she didn’t want to travel with a strange man, and second, she didn’t want to go to the Secret Realm’s core region to die.
“I don’t plan to go to the core region of the Secret Realm. It’s too dangerous. The prodigies of all the sects gather there, and it’s hard for someone as weak as me to survive,” Hua Jian shook her head, showing no intention to head to the Secret Realm’s core.
“The outer region of the Secret Realm is much safer. I’ll search for treasures here instead.”
After hearing Hua Jian’s answer, the Heavenly Dao Sect disciple showed an understanding look. Given the power Hua Jian displayed, going to the core region was indeed very risky.
Staying in the outer region was a very good choice, and so he didn’t press further.
After a few more casual words, the Heavenly Dao Sect cultivator bid farewell and headed toward the Secret Realm’s core.
Hua Jian thought that with his brain and strength, he’d just be an easy target in the core region.
Not to mention anything else, if she had harbored ill intent just now, that person would already be knocked unconscious on the ground by her, a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Only because he had a good attitude did Hua Jian hold back. After all, she wanted to be a good mouse—not a bad one that was two-faced.
Once the Heavenly Dao Sect disciple left, Hua Jian skillfully skinned and butchered the Spirit Beasts she had slain.
With the Spirit Stones obtained, her supplies for the next few days were secured, marking a good start for her Secret Realm journey.
Before night fell, she found a relatively safe spot, laid out a simple Array of Bewilderment, and sat cross-legged to cultivate through the night.
When the sky brightened again, Hua Jian opened her eyes and found that her array had somehow attracted a bunch of small animals, all stunned and unconscious inside.
These little creatures barely qualified as Spirit Beasts. Once entering the array, they were instantly dazed and collapsed, unable to rouse Hua Jian from her cultivation state.
After one night, the unconscious animals had piled up thickly.
“Carnivores, herbivores, why are all these guys knocked out here together?” Hua Jian used her foot to separate the fallen animals and found them to be all sorts of strange creatures.
There were some fairly normal-looking cats, dogs, rabbits, and sheep, but also bizarrely shaped beings.
Under the influence of spiritual energy, the animals in this world are incredibly diverse. Nobody knows what ordinary life forms will become under the effect of spiritual energy.
These strange creatures were likely ordinary life affected or mutated by spiritual energy or something else.
“Sigh, they’re worthless. There’s plenty of meat in my Storage Pouch already…” Hua Jian briefly entertained the thought of killing all these little guys, but after a quick mental calculation, she realized it wasn’t worth it.
The fur and skin of Spirit Beasts could be exchanged for Spirit Stones, but ordinary animals’ pelts had no value. Killing them wouldn’t bring any profit— it was better to spend time scraping the land’s resources in the outer region.
Finding a good Lingcao would be far more profitable than wiping out these little creatures.
Shaking her head, Hua Jian dispelled the array and headed toward another area.
At most, these little guys would wake up within half a day; she didn’t need to worry too much.
What she hadn’t expected was that in those few hours, new visitors would arrive at this area.
“How come there are so many animals down here…” A male cultivator riding a White Deer muttered softly.
The White Deer he sat on lowered its head to nibble some grass and then emitted a pleased sound.
Meaning roughly, “Delicious, I love it.”
“What a rich floral scent, it almost intoxicates me. We must have found a treasure!” The male cultivator riding the deer was accompanied by a boy in a Heavenly Dao Sect disciple robe.
Behind them stood a cold-faced Jianxiu clutching a sword.
Cultivators from Wanling Sect, Heavenly Dao Sect, and Jian Sect— three of the Five Great Sacred Sects— had somehow allied together but hadn’t gone straight to the Secret Realm core. Instead, they wandered around the outer region.
“Haha, I told you wandering the outer region first was the right move. Those guys who only care about the Imperial City never thought such treasures existed here!” The Wanling Sect cultivator laughed loudly. “Sun Zi, Liu Feng, let’s go seize that treasure!”
Sun Zi, the Heavenly Dao Sect disciple, frowned slightly. “Lu Tong, do you know what that treasure is?”
“Of course not. Treasures in the Secret Realm don’t have any specific forms. This is a newly discovered Secret Realm— who knows what kind of treasures it produces?” Lu Tong replied frankly, admitting he had no idea what the treasure looked like.
A new map opened; how would he know the local specialties?
But with so many animals gathering and his precious White Deer so satisfied, the treasure’s grade wouldn’t be low.
“It moves.” The Jianxiu said coldly.
“So what?” Lu Tong didn’t understand.
“The floral scent, and it moves. That means danger.” The Jianxiu saw that his companions didn’t get it and had to explain further.
For so many animals to gather, leaving such a strong floral scent behind, the treasure must have stayed here for some time.
Now the animals remain, but the treasure has disappeared— meaning it moves.
From these two premises, one obvious possibility emerged: the treasure was actually a Spirit Beast, possibly a powerful one!
“It emanates a strong aura that attracts and hallucinates. Be very careful when tracking it.”
Lu Tong and Sun Zi nodded repeatedly, indicating they understood.
Now the question was: how to find the Spirit Beast that had already left?
“White Deer, your turn!” Lu Tong patted his contracted Spirit Beast.
His Spirit Beast wasn’t ordinary—tracking scents wasn’t inferior to others.
The White Deer ignored Lu Tong’s pats and continued munching the grass.
If Lu Tong had been paying closer attention, he would’ve noticed the White Deer’s eyes had gone vacant, saliva dripping from its mouth, looking like it was dreaming happily after seeing a little umbrella dancing with tiny people.
“White Deer, White Deer!” Lu Tong kept patting his Spirit Beast.
But the White Deer showed no reaction; after finishing the grass, it happily lay down and closed its eyes to dream sweetly.