No sooner said than done, Hua Jian continued to hold back the swarming monsters while gesturing toward Linglong with a wave of her hand.
A stream of water separated from the colorful swirl above her head, slapping right onto Linglong’s face, hitting the Little Dragon Girl so hard she staggered.
She didn’t absorb any energy, but her face stung badly. Seeing Linglong’s aggrieved expression as she covered her cheek, Hua Jian let out an awkward chuckle.
Could she even say she really didn’t do it on purpose?
“Maybe it’s too much. Let me adjust it again.” Taking advantage of Linglong not having the chance to scold her yet, Hua Jian hurried to say she was working hard to solve the current problem.
You have to try, right? There’s always room for error.
If Linglong couldn’t take in such a massive amount of Soul Power at once, what if she just reduced the output?
Thinking so, Hua Jian cautiously lessened her power output by a lot. This time, Linglong’s face wasn’t hurt, but she still couldn’t absorb any of the Soul Energy.
It was as if the two were simply incompatible…
“These energies aren’t something ordinary people can absorb. Don’t waste your effort!” A Meng reminded from behind.
These Soul Energies were the nutrients for the Secret Realm Treasure.
For example, if the Secret Realm Treasure was a crop, then this Soul Energy was fertilizer—vital for the treasure, but for a human like Linglong, totally useless.
As for why Hua Jian could absorb this stuff? Who knew? Even A Meng herself was still confused.
“Then why can I absorb it?”
“Because you’re not human!”
Hua Jian scratched her head after being randomly scolded for not being human—she more or less got what A Meng meant.
The Soul Energy from the sky wasn’t something Linglong could use directly. No matter what tricks she tried, it wouldn’t work; she couldn’t make Linglong eat the fertilizer instead of the crop.
So it was time to change her approach. Linglong indeed couldn’t absorb raw Soul Energy, but if there was a converter to transform it into something Linglong could take in…?
Just like humans can’t eat fertilizer, but they can eat crops grown with fertilizer.
And now, they just happened to have a “crop”—it just hadn’t borne fruit yet.
“Sharing my Soul Energy with someone else shouldn’t be hard, right?” Hua Jian searched through everything she had learned for a workable solution.
After some searching, she realized there was a method in the Ancestor’s Cultivation Technique she had always practiced.
“Do this, then this, then this…”
Quickly running the technique from memory, the excess Soul Energy inside her poured out, condensing above her head into a beautiful, colorful little flower.
“Linglong, just pick this flower and eat it!”
Hua Jian’s request was strange, but now was not the time to fuss over details.
Linglong quickly rushed forward and grabbed the colorful flower above Hua Jian’s head.
With a slight tug, the flower wasn’t uprooted, but Linglong did pluck a few petals.
Hua Jian immediately clutched her head and howled, “Ow, ow, ow!”
Linglong’s yank nearly tore her soul out. That was pain, real pain to the core.
Still, pain aside, Hua Jian’s method really worked—the flower petals Linglong picked easily fused into her body, providing her with a huge amount of Soul Energy.
With this power, Linglong could finally use that ultimate move she’d been worrying about wasting before.
A little embarrassed, she apologized to Hua Jian, then, fully charged, Linglong shot into the sky. In an instant, the entire sky became overcast.
A silver lightning dragon emerged from the churning clouds, scales and feathers barely visible, exuding a mighty pressure.
Bolts of lightning fell from the clouds, striking the charging monsters below and abruptly breaking their assault.
Taking this chance while Linglong was displaying her divine power, Hua Jian endured the pain and raised her gun, blowing a monster’s head off.
But to be honest, these monsters hardly seemed alive; even after losing their heads, they could still move. Hua Jian had to shoot them twice more to completely shatter them.
Although her firepower was a bit slow, she had a helper now.
With Linglong helping to control the battlefield, the monsters advanced much more slowly than before, giving Hua Jian plenty of time to deal with them one by one.
She had the firepower, Linglong had the control—their teamwork was absolutely lethal!
Their perfect coordination greatly slowed the monsters’ advance. Although the monsters still kept coming, at this rate A Meng should have enough time to open the passage to the outside before the monsters broke through.
The mission’s success could be judged by defeating all the enemies or just holding out for a certain time. What happened after—well, that was out of her hands.
Anyway, once the mission was complete, whether these monsters lived or died was no concern of Hua Jian’s.
However, at this point, Hua Jian felt she needed to keep an eye on A Meng, just in case this one decided to ditch them and make a run for it alone.
So while fighting, she slowly retreated toward A Meng’s position.
Linglong saw this and understood what Hua Jian was thinking. Though she also wanted to trust A Meng, Hua Jian’s caution was the right move.
You can’t put all your trust in someone else’s conscience. Vigilance is always wise.
A Meng noticed Linglong and Hua Jian moving closer.
A subtle look flashed in her eyes—she really had been considering leaving them behind, but now that they’d come right over, she could only squash that idea.
Forget it. There might be more trouble outside anyway, and having two helpers wasn’t so bad, she thought.
Compared to the monsters outside, Linglong and Hua Jian were practically a breath of fresh air. With them, she’d really have help out there.
“The formation is almost complete—come closer!” After sorting out her thoughts, A Meng shouted to them.
As she spoke, the square formation turned into a grand door. A Meng pushed the door open, and Linglong and Hua Jian hurried to her side.
“Should we hold hands while going in…” Hua Jian started to ask, but A Meng kicked her right through the door.
Just before passing through, she heard A Meng’s voice: “No need, hurry up and go!”
Why did you have to kick me while talking! Hua Jian thought, feeling A Meng was just taking revenge.
But she didn’t have time to mind her sore backside, because the familiar sensation of time-space distortion came over her, just like when they entered the Secret Realm.
After another round in the “roller washing machine,” Hua Jian regained consciousness, dizzy and disoriented.
But the voices she heard made her decide to keep her eyes closed and play dead.
“Old Xia, your turtle shell won’t last much longer. Why not give up and hand over the Treasure Map?” came a voice that sounded weak and sly.
“You can’t get to me. Even if I die, I won’t give you the Treasure Map,” replied an old voice.
Hua Jian peeked through a slit in her eyelids, finding herself lying on something soft.
Not far away, two groups of cultivators were locked in a standoff.
One group had only two people—one of whom was none other than Miss Chai Xianyun, whom Hua Jian knew, and the old man beside her was probably the Xia Lao Yanquan had mentioned before.
The other group had many people, led by a pale Young Master, surrounded by several Spirit Kings.
Judging by strength, these two groups shouldn’t even be on equal footing.
The reason was obvious—Young Master’s side was far stronger; with everyone attacking at once, they should easily overwhelm Xia Lao, the lone Ling King.
Just as Hua Jian wondered about this, she felt whatever she was lying on shift slightly.
“You’re crushing me…” came a very soft whisper.
Only then did Hua Jian realize what she was lying on—it was the Little Dragon Girl.
Hidden from both sides’ view, Hua Jian secretly grabbed Linglong’s hand and wrote in her palm.
‘Play dead.’
From what she could see, both groups held a small golden scroll, which radiated light and blocked the colorful mist in the air within a set range.
That omnipresent colorful mist was likely the culprit behind all the cultivators who got lost in that Dream upon entering the Secret Realm.
Hua Jian continued to discreetly observe the surroundings.
They were in a cave, with a small Earth Altar in the center. Above the altar hovered a dull-colored Seed.
Above the Seed hung a massive Stone Pillar, resembling but much grander than a stalactite.
The Stone Pillar emitted mesmerizing, colorful light, and from time to time, a Seven-Colored Liquid Drop would form and drip onto the Seed.
For some reason, seeing those drops made Hua Jian feel greedy.
However, despite the watering, the Seed showed no signs of life; its color remained dull and lifeless.
‘What is that?’
Hua Jian asked Linglong.
Linglong, imitating Hua Jian, cracked open an eyelid, but admitted she didn’t recognize the Seed.
The world of cultivation was full of mysterious treasures—no one could know them all. Even Saints sometimes had to look things up.
And this Seed didn’t match any in Linglong’s memory.
Linglong drew an X in Hua Jian’s palm with her warm finger, and Hua Jian felt a little disappointed.
Guess she’d have to hope the arguing parties spilled some secrets.
“I know what you want, but without the Treasure Map in my hand, you’ll get nothing. When the Guardian Spirit Beast awakens, you’ll all die here!” Xia Lao’s voice was chilling.
“Do you really think I can’t do anything to you?” Young Master Shenxu sneered.
“If you could, you wouldn’t still be talking.”
It was obvious—both sides were in a stalemate, and no one dared make the first move.
The reason Young Master Shenxu didn’t send his subordinates to attack was simple—the Treasure Map’s protective range was small.
To grab Xia Lao’s Treasure Map, he’d have to get close, but that put him in danger.
If Xia Lao lashed out, they might take each other out, and his plans would benefit someone else instead.
As for sending someone outside the protective range—he’d tried that. The person instantly collapsed from the colorful mist, and couldn’t be revived even when pulled back inside.
Even if Xia Lao didn’t take him down with him and was instead stalled by the Spirit Kings, things would still be chaotic.
Because above them, a Spirit Beast that looked very hard to deal with was sleeping. If disturbed, they’d all be in trouble.
So the standoff dragged on—Chai Clan’s pair too weak to fight, Young Master Shenxu strong but not daring to risk it.
Preparation had its limits; no matter how much he planned, the Secret Realm was still full of surprises, leaving Young Master Shenxu in this awkward spot.
Thud!
A heavy object hit the ground not far away.
Neither side even looked—they knew it was just another unlucky soul entering the Secret Realm and passing out right away.
It happened often during their standoff; they were used to it.
If not for the Treasure Map, they’d probably be sprawled out on the ground just like all the others.
But their carelessness made them miss something important.
Because the latest person to fall had, by sheer luck, landed right on top of Hua Jian, knocking the wind out of her.
A free-falling person from up high!