Having barely escaped from the Chai Family Patriarch, she didn’t want to fail here.
Meanwhile, Hua Jian was lying flat on her back, weakly responding, “Your Patriarch? If he hadn’t gone mad, none of us would be like this.”
She pointed at the subdued cultivators controlled by the Chai Family.
Each one was listless, some even still covered in blood.
Most of this was the Chai Family Patriarch’s doing!
“Look at them. All beaten by your Patriarch. He wanted the Secret Realm treasures for himself, didn’t care about his life, forced a breakthrough and went mad. Even when the place was collapsing, he wouldn’t leave—he deserved to die in there!”
Hua Jian’s words were tearful and sincere, and coupled with her bloodless face after the medicine wore off, she was highly convincing.
Looking back at the battered survivors, the Chai family’s cultivators had to admit she might not be lying.
“But why did the Patriarch force a breakthrough? It must be you—”
“Not my business, as you saw. I’m just a Spirit Master like her. Your Patriarch was blocked by a Guardian Spirit Beast in the Secret Realm, couldn’t get through, so he forced a breakthrough.”
There were treasures in a Secret Realm, so naturally there’d be Guardian Spirit Beasts—nothing strange about that.
Hua Jian’s excuse was flawless.
As for the other Ling Kings, she thought none of them would dare blame her.
Anyone who came out had a part in the Patriarch’s death. Those Ling Kings weren’t as well-connected as she was—if they told the truth, they’d probably be silenced by the Chai Family right here.
“Now both your Patriarch and the Guardian Spirit Beast are dead in the Secret Realm, and it’s destroyed. Leave the rest to the Saint Sect.” Hua Jian lay flat, sounding hopeless.
With such a disturbance, the Saint Sect couldn’t not check. Once they arrived, it’d all be simple.
Linglong would show her identity and explain what happened, and that would be it.
Hua Jian’s calmness made the Chai Family cultivator start to doubt. Was it really just as this girl said, that their Patriarch brought it on himself?
Even so, why was their Miss Chai still in a soulless state—was it some sort of curse…?
“What’s that in your hand?”
“This? The Treasure Map your Patriarch didn’t want, so I picked it up.”
Since ascending the altar, the Chai Family Patriarch had been obsessed with absorbing the Spirit Liquid of the Soul.
He’d tossed the Treasure Map aside, so Hua Jian’s story checked out.
The Chai Family cultivator was about to ask more when a sharp aura appeared from the horizon. Soon, a sword cultivator in white arrived on a flying sword.
Her clothes were simple, her starry eyes shining with sword light—a clear sign she was from the Jian Sect.
“The Secret Realm is destroyed, space is in turmoil—what happened here?” Her gaze swept the crowd below, the Ling Emperor’s pressure leaving no room for resistance.
This time, the Saint Sect had arrived especially quickly.
*
The Ling Emperor from the Jian Sect easily controlled the situation, and soon, many nearby Saint Sect disciples were summoned, rounding up the involved cultivators for questioning.
The one questioning Linglong and Hua Jian… turned out to be Fenghua Venerable, who had somehow blended in with the Saint Sect’s ranks.
“Venerable, the seed rooted in my body—will I die?”
The moment Hua Jian saw Fenghua Venerable, she almost burst into tears. This little dragon girl was utterly helpless—only the Venerable gave her a sense of safety.
Having a senior to rely on in tough times was truly wonderful. Whenever she didn’t understand, she could just ask.
“You’re still alive and kicking, talking to me, so I doubt there’s any problem.” Fenghua Venerable patted Hua Jian’s head with a helpless smile.
To her, Hua Jian was just suffering some soul weakness, nothing too serious.
While patting her head, Fenghua Venerable quietly checked Hua Jian’s body with spiritual power—she found no sign of any sprouting seed.
“Based on your description, that seed should be the legendary Illusory Dream Flower—a rare spiritual plant whose very existence is in doubt.”
As she spoke, Fenghua Venerable opened the Treasure Map Hua Jian had acquired and studied the ancient script.
Her brows furrowed, “Tsk, something left over from that era…”
She rolled up the Treasure Map and tucked it into her sleeve without telling Hua Jian what it said.
Instead, she confirmed Hua Jian’s guess: that seed was indeed an Illusory Dream Flower, and A Meng was its companion beast—the Dream Butterfly.
“Such a spiritual plant exists only in legend. It’s extremely dangerous. Anyone caught in its trap is doomed to die, unless they have incredibly strong soul power to escape its Dream Prison.”
“The demonic path once tried to mass-produce the Spirit Liquid of the Soul, and one method used the Illusory Dream Flower. But it ended in complete failure—they all died, but no one knows the details.”
Fenghua Venerable casually shared a legend.
Hua Jian was a bit dazed—how could something so powerful show up here?
She swallowed and whispered, “Is this Illusory Dream Flower… very rare?”
“A spiritual plant whose existence is uncertain is naturally rare. I recall that a hundred years ago, someone from Wanling Sect compiled the Hundred Flowers List, recording the hundred most precious spirit flowers in the world—the Illusory Dream Flower ranked ninth.”
Hua Jian might not understand its true value, but a ‘ninth under heaven’ ranking she could understand.
The Heavenly Flames List—no, wrong story, but anyway, that was the idea.
“I read that Hundred Flowers List too. The top ten were all flowers that only appeared in legend, right?” Linglong raised her hand.
Everyone loved rankings, and the Hundred Flowers List was no amateur’s work. As a child, even her mother had her treat it like a picture book.
The lower-ranked flowers were common ingredients in high-level pills and poisons, but the top ones had no recorded use, since they only existed in stories.
She’d never considered the Illusory Dream Flower simply because the top flowers were mythic. Who would expect to actually see one?
Thinking back, even a dead seed could imprison Ling King-level souls—how could such a spiritual plant be ordinary?
If it grew to maturity, even Saints would find it troublesome.
“Indeed. Who would’ve thought to find such a rare thing here? Hua Jian, if the Lingcaifeng Master learns of your encounter, she might risk her life to snatch you back to Wanling Sect.” Fenghua Venerable laughed heartily.
If she remembered right, the one who compiled the Hundred Flowers List was the Lingcaifeng Master a century ago.
The Lingcaifeng Master’s craving for rare plants was unrivaled. If she learned her favorite little girl had obtained the Illusory Dream Flower, Fenghua Venerable couldn’t imagine the scene.
“Don’t worry too much. Your body is fine for now—just focus on recovering.” Fenghua Venerable comforted Hua Jian.
Not worrying was easier said than done. Hua Jian secretly muttered to herself—it was scary seeing that seed take root in her.
For anyone normal, having a flower root in your body was terrifying.
But since Fenghua Venerable said so, she’d trust her.
“Alright, I’ll tell Shijie what happened here. Just answer their questions truthfully.” After finishing her questions, Fenghua Venerable left the makeshift tent.
After she left, the Jian Sect disciple who had first arrived entered the tent, giving Linglong a strange look.
Apparently, she already knew Linglong’s identity.
“Even though I know who you are, Linglong Shimei, I still have to ask some questions. Please cooperate.”
Linglong stood and bowed to the sword cultivator, “Of course. No need to be so formal, Shijie.”
“Mm.”
Sword cultivators were very different from others. They were rigid and inflexible, even during questioning.
Hua Jian felt like this sword cultivator was reading from a script, like a robot.
When it was Hua Jian’s turn, this feeling intensified—the questions were exactly the same as those for Linglong.
If she didn’t know sword cultivators never cut corners, she might’ve thought this girl was just lazy.
“So you’ve absorbed all the Spirit Liquid of the Soul…” After writing this down, the sword cultivator looked troubled. “This will be tricky.”
Everything else was fine—it was just deep-rooted family vengeance, not something the Saint Sect could meddle in.
They couldn’t forbid revenge, nor help it. The Saint Sect liked punishing evil, but neither side here was clearly good or evil.
Both were just as bad, so the Saint Sect wouldn’t get involved.
But the large amount of Spirit Liquid of the Soul that Hua Jian had absorbed… if she reported it as such, Hudaosi might send a piercing shriek, then fly over at night to drag Hua Jian away for a major memory probe.
This incident involved too much Spirit Liquid of the Soul for Hudaosi to be careless.
“I have to report all this to Hudaosi. What they decide is out of my hands.” Closing her notebook, the sword cultivator sighed.
She didn’t think Hua Jian was lying, but her opinion didn’t matter—only Hudaosi’s did.
“There shouldn’t be any problem, right?” Hua Jian was a bit unnerved by the girl’s expression—this time she was truly innocent.
“Probably not.” Considering Hua Jian’s background, the sword cultivator thought things wouldn’t be that bad. “Pack up and come with me to Tianbei City. There’s a Hudaosi office there.”
Anyway, just bring her to Hudaosi first. Once there, her backers could get involved.
Technically, Hudaosi was supposed to be impartial, but being formed by the five major Saint Sects, it was heavily influenced by them.
With Jade Pool behind her, Hudaosi wouldn’t make things too difficult for Hua Jian.
“Okay!”
*
As Hua Jian and Linglong left with the sword cultivator, the other involved cultivators continued explaining the incident to the Saint Sect repair squad.
With all the testimony, the truth was pieced together.
The story was simple: years ago, the Chai Family Patriarch killed Bai Su’s father, destroyed his sect, and stole the Treasure Map. Bai Su escaped and began planning his revenge.
After years of endurance and intrigue, Bai Su found his chance to ambush the Chai Family’s convoy to Huiyue City, forcing them to this location and opening the Secret Realm.
Chai Family’s Elder Xia, upon being ambushed, immediately sent for help. The Patriarch rushed over and arrived just in time.
Then, chaos broke out in the Secret Realm: alliances and betrayals, all sides uniting to stop the insane Chai Family Patriarch, finally burying him in the Secret Realm.
The sequence was logical, confirmed by many testimonies. If anyone was to blame, it was hard to say now.
Both the Chai Family Patriarch and Bai Su were dead. The survivors were just Bai Su’s hired help—nothing new for wandering cultivators.
As for the Chai Family’s others, they had simply followed orders and weren’t involved in the Secret Realm’s events.
One member of the Chai Family who had entered and exited the Secret Realm remained, but she was still in a soulless trance.
The Saint Sect’s cultivators found it wasn’t an act, but real.
“Her soul seems to be bound by something—I can’t break it,” said a Ling King from Penglai, admitting defeat.
“Forget it. Hand all those who exited the Secret Realm to Hudaosi. Let them deal with it. Since the Chai Family is based in Tianbei City, just ship them there.”
A Ling King from Tiandao Sect was unconcerned—they’d only come to help, after all. The real work was up to Hudaosi.
With the Chai Family being a major force in Tianbei City, most of these people had to return there anyway.
“Qiuyun Senior Sister already left ahead of us. Odd—she’s not usually so diligent,” muttered a Jian Sect Outer Sect Disciple, just having received a message from the Ling Emperor.
Looking up, he saw his senior sister’s figure vanishing into the distance.
Really strange. Did she discover something big? Something so huge that even Hudaosi might not be able to handle it?
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