In the Great Wilderness, two haggard figures lay beside each other on top of their airship, contemplating their current fate as they stared blankly into the night sky.
“…..I am never going into the forbidden zone, ever again.”
“….Agreed.”
Yan Liehuo started crying in an ugly manner that would have repulsed his sister if not for her similarly exhausted and hollow look.
“So many Demonic Beasts! Why were there so many of them in there? Did some perverted master from the ancient time use that place for some twisted experience?”
Yan Xinyan shivered in terror and disgust as a particular memory rose to the front of her mind.
“….I don’t know about that, but I do know that I don’t want to become a plaything for a Dragon Turtle ever again.”
“Same!”
The two siblings shivered in terror collectively as they remembered the days they spent being toyed around by a Dragon Turtle in the peak of the Void Refinement realm. A beast that stood at the pinnacle of Cultivation on this continent and ruled the Forbidden Zone of the Great Wilderness.
Thankfully, they somehow managed to escape it through sheer luck, allowing them to escape the nightmare-inducing area.
Suddenly, Yan Xinyan sat up with urgency and took out the tracking artifact which started to glow violently when she pointed it towards a certain direction.
“Found her!”
Yan Liehuo got to his feet in an instant and took control of the airship, taking off at full speed toward the direction of the girl they had been searching for such a long time.
“Finally! We are so close! Mistress will be very happy to know that we succeeded!”
“Don’t celebrate too early, Liehuo. We need to see the girl with our eyes at least before we can confirm anything.”
“don’t be so cynical, especially when we are so close to completing our mission.”
“I am not being cynical, I am being practical.”
Yan Liehuo did not let his sister’s words get to him as he happily drove the airship, already fantasizing about how happy his mistress would be at their success after such a long search across the continent.
----------------------------------------
We waited patiently as the current Emperor of the Baihu Empire, Baihu Hankai, gave a long and tiring speech about the history of the Empire, the various sects that were participating in this expedition, the rules to be followed inside, and various other things that I and probably everyone else present here knew beforehand.
Basically, there are a few rules that need to be followed when inside the secret realm, some that are enforced by the realm itself, others that are agreements on the part of the various forces.
It was basic rules, such as not resorting to lethal attacks on each other, not stealing each other's resources, and other such basic things. Things that I don’t expect even the naïve children of the various forces to follow when inside the realm.
After all, the mortality rate of 50% within the realm is not solely attributed to the Demonic Beasts inside.
‘Once we are inside, you need to head straight for the tallest mountain located in the north. Once there, I will guide you towards the cave entrance that leads beneath the mountain where our objective is.’
‘Ok. But, what about the other things? When do we grab those things?’
‘We will go for the other resources once a week has passed. From what I remember, the first week of the expedition is always the bloodiest time, when many sect disciples and students of various forces try to resolve their personal grudges using the lack of supervision within the realm to their advantage. We don’t want to be caught in the crossfire no matter what happens. Especially since our cultivation will be heavily suppressed by the realm.’
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
‘Makes sense. Let’s do it your way.’
I was brought out of my conversation when I felt Yin Lingxi hold my hand and subtly gesture towards the side where a group of people were trying to be low-key.
“Da Wei, we need to avoid that group as much as possible.”
I felt surprised at her words and concentrated my senses on identifying those people.
They must have been powerful experts since the group of three men that surrounded a person in the center immediately started scanning the area after being alerted by my probing.
Instead of relying on my Qi sensing, I used my Primal Qi to enhance my eyesight this time, allowing me to finally spot the person in the middle of the group, revealing a boy that was probably around Da Ling’s age.
A boy that neither I nor Xiang recognized.
I got closer to Yin Lingxi and whispered in her ear.
“Who is that?’
“…That is the current crown prince of the Baihu Empire. Baihu Jianxiao. The biological son of Baihu Hankai. He attained that position after defeating the previous crown princess, Baihu Yuefeng, his half-sister, in a duel last year.”
“Ah! Right. I tend to forget that the Baihu Empire is a meritocracy”
“Hmm. It is better not to get involved with him or his group, which is probably made up of his personal bodyguards, since there is a high chance they would recognize me, even with my hair dyed black.”
“Agreed.”
“…Also, can you stop whispering in my ear?”
I felt startled as I realized that I had been continuously whispering in her ear since asking my question and pulled back in embarrassment.
Looking at Yin Lingxi, it is clear that she felt embarrassed as well if the way her cheeks were flushed was anything to go by.
How embarrassing. To think that I would forget proper decorum despite being an adult.
Shaking my head to suppress those thoughts, I turned back to the front and saw that the speech was already over, and the people belonging to the Royal Family and the Sects were already proceeding into the secret realm.
Once the people of the various major forces were gone, it was time for the rest of the gathered cultivators to enter the realm.
“Lingxi, once we are inside, do not leave my side for anything. We will be going straight for my objective and will be staying there for a week until things calm down. Then, we can search for anything that interests you.”
Yin Lingxi nodded seriously at my words, making me feel happy at how seriously she takes my words most of the time.
Soon, it was our turn to enter.
The moment we stepped foot into the entrance, I felt space itself distort. My senses felt confused for a matter of few seconds just like when I used my Warp function on my Airship before they stabilized and I was faced with the inside of the Secret Realm.
A Realm of beautiful nature, floating landmasses, green pastures, clean-flowing rivers, and verdant forests. All of which were thickly covered in Pure Qi.
“…How beautiful.”
I nodded at Yin Lingxi’s words, but soon remembered Xiang’s warning, making me focus back on the task.
Turning northward in accordance with the sun in the sky, I spotted a large mountain range with one peak being conspicuously huge.
Even without Xiang’s knowledge, such a huge and conspicuous mountain would have definitely triggered my gamer instincts, making me head for that place and search it for any hidden ‘loot’.
“Let’s go.”
With those words, we shot towards the mountain.
However, as we were heading towards the mountain, I could not help but notice that I felt no different from what I usually felt when outside, something that should not be possible since this realm should have been suppressing my cultivation to the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm.
‘As expected, I can’t hope for anything normal when it comes to you.’
‘A mystery for later. For now, we have a destination to be and it would not do for us to look a gift horse in the mouth.’
‘You and your mysterious sayings, fine. Tell me when you reach the mountain, in the meantime, I’ll look into your spirit roots and cultivation to search for the reason for this new development.’
‘Done,’
----------------------------------------
“HAHAHA! FASTER! GO FASTER!”
“YANG IS ALREADY GOING AS FAST AS HE CAN!!”
Yang, the Scorching Stallion, ran with all his might, running alongside the train that was moving on the path towards the mining village of Chief Xu.
Riding the Demonic Beast was none other than the master of the said beast, Da Ling, and her friend, Jin Ruiying, the little sister of Da Ling’s ‘junior brother’ Jin Tianrui.
Ever since her father had left on a journey to find something for her Junior Brother, Da Ling had been feeling very bored, making her seek ways to entertain herself.
That was why, when Jin Ruiying proposed the idea of running alongside the train to see if Yang was faster than Da Wei’s creation, She could not help but agree enthusiastically, much to the dread of her Dao Familiar who gave his master a pleading look.
Ever since he became Da Ling’s Dao Familiar, he had led the most enjoyable time of his life, eating top-quality demonic beast meat, drinking Qi-rich water, and being fawned over by the girls in the village for his majestic mane and form.
In fact, he had been enjoying his life so much that he had become a Demonic Beast equivalent of a couch potato who refused to do any work.
However, this new task that his master set for him made him dread working up that much sweat, causing him to plead with his master in the only way he knew, by giving her a puppy dog look with a pitiful expression.
Unfortunately for the massive beast, he had failed to realize that thanks to his form, he could never hope to pull off such an expression, leading to its current misery.
Yang panted heavily as he ran with all his might alongside the stupidly fast train while the two girls atop him screamed in joy.
For the rest of the day, the poor Demonic Beast was put through hell, running beside the trains continuously until the girls finally got tired of the same activity.
The two little girls enjoyed the day, but it was hell for the poor beast.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------