Huang Lu woke up to see an injured Toh Gen. "How many days have I slept?"

"Two, almost three." Lady Xue said, and she was pleased.

"And why do you look like you've got a beating."

"Three ladies at the 3rd realm ganged up on me." Toh Gen said. "They were not fighting fair."

Huang Lu smiled, and stretched. His body felt great, and strong. He noticed his changed clothes and nodded to the rest. "I feel great. Thank you for taking care of me."

He stood up, and stretched some more. The others gave him space, of course. The Sect master and Qian Ziyi came in soon after. "Glad to see you are up, Huang Lu."

It took a while for Huang Lu to remember that this was the sect master. "Ah... uh. Yeah. Thanks."

"This is the Wildblood Sect's guest quarters." Xue Xinling explained.

"Ah. Thanks for letting me rest here."

"Anyone who joins us in our fight against the half star demons is a friend of ours. If you have gratitude, save it and help me look after Ziyi." The Sect Master nimbly responded. Qian Ziyi fidgeted slightly.

"Well, certainly." Huang Lu answered.

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"Good. She's in your good hands. Speaking of which, there's a secret realm that recently opened in the North. Ziyi has the map to it. Would you and your group like to check it out? It's about two days away."

Huang Lu nodded. "That sounds good, what do you think?" He looked at the girls and Toh Gen. The ladies nodded. Toh Gen shrugged. "Alright, we'll go for it."

So, they were all, finally on the road together, with Qian Ziyi added to the team! Ziyi, was unfortunately, the weakest of the team. The other three were at the first steps of the 3rd realm.

Toh Gen immediately started teasing her. "You're into muscles, right?"

Qian Ziyi frowned. "No." But she still blushed at how close Toh Gen was. Toh Gen really was so dashing, even up close. Even with his injuries, his clothes somehow flutter naturally, his hair not a strand out of place. He's a handsome, tall, fair man with sharp, bright eyes. The way he smiled would normally make ladies blush, and yet Qian Ziyi only felt annoyance.

This, naturally, was referred to as the main-character harem distortion field, where all of the FMC's affections and interests are only for the MC and no one else. It's like they become monogamous by sheer magic and plot. Actually it's just plot.

"So how'd you guys find this secret realm?" Toh Gen asked Ziyi.

Ziyi shrugged. "Master said some of the northern patrollers found it."

"What kind is it?"

"I don't know. No one was sent to investigate." Secret realms are actually super common, and they were the xianxia equivalent of magical dungeons that popped out of nowhere. Most of them are plot creations, created by the heavenly spirits to make shit happen in the story. Every story worth its salt must have magical dungeons!

Huang Lu actually had no idea what secret realms are, so he asked. "Actually, what are secret realms?" He may be powerful, but his knowledge was comparable to a country bumpkin.

"Oh?" Lady Xue wondered. "Have you been living in a cave?"

"Well, yes."

"Ah. Secret realms are [insert random author infodump on secret realms that explains nothing but only pads wordcount]."

"I see. Very informative."