Chapter 12: Our Little Junior Sister is a Genius?

“Boom!”

“Rumble—”

“Thud~”

The secret realm’s random teleportation point unfortunately dropped the three directly into a forest. Their landing startled birds and beasts, scattering dry branches and leaves everywhere.

“Ouch! It hurts, hurts, hurts—” Tantai Ming was the most unfortunate, crushed at the bottom.

Above him lay Mu Chihuai.

Chu Sang, thanks to her two cushioning seniors, suffered little.

She quickly jumped up and extended a hand to pull them both up. “Sixth Senior Brother, Seventh Senior Brother, are you two alright?”

Mu Chihuai was dizzy and nauseous but managed to lean against a tree weakly. “The flight wasn’t bad, but no more next time.”

Tantai Ming, clutching his nearly split backside, was on the verge of tears. “Junior Sister, next time you decide to speed on your sword, please give a warning.”

Feeling a bit guilty, Chu Sang handed him a large stack of talismans, including some recently drawn Golden Armor Talismans.

Tantai Ming instantly revived, ready for an 800-meter dash.

Luckily, the three weren’t separated by the secret realm. Mu Chihuai approached with crossed arms. Facing two forked paths, he turned to Chu Sang, “Check the map. Where are we approximately in the secret realm?”

“I remember the map marked the locations of beast tides, swamps, poisonous miasma, and illusion formations. Let’s avoid these traps, quickly obtain what we need, and avoid direct confrontations with other cultivators.”

As an alchemy cultivator, Mu Chihuai’s attack power was nearly zero and could be ignored. In a real fight, he might even become a liability.

Chu Sang, assumed by Mu Chihuai to be a talisman cultivator, had some combat ability but would be at a severe disadvantage against higher-level sword or body cultivators in close combat.

So among the three, only Tantai Ming was truly capable of fighting.

Moreover, according to the innkeeper’s earlier disclosure, not only were there small cultivators at the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment stages, but also many hidden Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators… They had to act quickly and stay hidden whenever possible.

Chu Sang took out the map. It seemed ancient, with yellowed, wrinkled paper and archaic characters no longer used in the cultivation world. Fortunately, she had studied ancient texts in the library during her free time, so she could read it fluently.

After a quick scan, she rolled it back into her storage bag.

Mu Chihuai hesitated. “Can’t understand it?”

As he pondered how to offer leading without hurting his junior sister’s confidence, Chu Sang decisively chose the left path, saying, “I’ve memorized it. No need to look again.”

Mu Chihuai: “?”

He looked at Tantai Ming, doubtful. “Is Junior Sister’s memory really that terrifying?”

Tantai Ming, long accustomed to such feats, nodded calmly. “She memorized a hundred talisman books in half a month.”

“……” Mu Chihuai was momentarily speechless, finding it hard to believe.

Though not a talisman master himself, he knew that the difficulty in learning talismans, formations, and alchemy lay in their profound and obscure knowledge.

Forget memorizing; even just understanding them required immense time and effort.

Tantai Ming, a sword cultivator, might not grasp the intricacies, but Mu Chihuai knew all too well. Even for someone as talented as himself, memorizing over a hundred alchemy books would take at least half a year… Could their junior sister truly be a once-in-a-millennium genius?

“What are you two still standing there for? Hurry up and follow!”

The two exchanged glances and followed.

Meanwhile, thousands of other cultivators in the secret realm were struggling between life and death, with lives lost every moment.

The secret realm was ever-changing and perilous. Without maps, they could only test traps with their bodies.

Most cultivators found it difficult to move, either falling into swamps, getting trapped in illusions, or losing their spiritual power in formations, wandering for days without a way out… Even worse, for some unknown reason, the beasts were collectively agitated, with frenzied beast tides attacking many cultivators.

Of course, Chu Sang’s group encountered none of these troubles.

For the past few days, they had traveled smoothly, eating, drinking, chatting, and laughing as if on a leisurely outing, even collecting plenty of spirit herbs along the way.

“It seems this secret realm isn’t as dangerous as we imagined.” Just as Tantai Ming said this, his eyes lit up, pointing ahead. “Look, what’s that?”

Heart Nurturing Spirit Herb!

And not just one, but a whole patch!

A single Heart Nurturing Spirit Herb was priceless in the cultivation world, let alone a whole patch. They were incredibly lucky.

Initially uncertain, Mu Chihuai now felt confident. With so many Heart Nurturing Spirit Herbs, he could certainly improve Junior Sister’s spirit roots!

Compared to the two’s excitement, Chu Sang wasn’t too surprised. After confronting the female protagonist, both senior brothers had generously given her some attribute points. Considering the secret realm, she had added both points to her luck stat.

Though luck couldn’t be perceived as clearly as talent, based on their smooth journey and spirit herb collection over the past three days, [3 Luck] was more than three times stronger than [1 Luck].

For instance, with [1 Luck], most herbs found were ten to hundred years old, with occasional thousand-year-old finds. With [3 Luck], hundred and thousand-year-old herbs were common, and sometimes even two-thousand-year-old herbs appeared.

She called her senior brothers over and was about to bend down to pick the herbs when several sharp sword energies filled with killing intent broke through the air from behind the trees, aiming directly at their vital points!

Chu Sang’s heart jolted, her hand moving faster than her mind. She instantly threw out a Golden Armor Talisman to block the sword energy about to hit her face.

Simultaneously, she drew three Swift Movement Talismans and stuck them on herself and her two senior brothers.

“Run!”

Fortunately, the three reacted quickly, turning danger into safety.

In the next breath, several loud booms were heard. The trees where they had just stood were all cut down by the sword energies, leaves and dust scattering in a large cloud.

One could imagine that if those sword energies had hit them, they would have lost half their lives if not died outright.

Tantai Ming tensed, drawing his sword to stand protectively in front of the two, his handsome face darkening. “So it’s you!”

Qiu Xiude and his group swaggered out from behind the trees, faces full of mockery. “What a coincidence to meet you again.”

He no longer concealed his late Foundation Establishment stage strength.

“Your reaction was quite fast. I can’t believe you dodged my full-force attack. What a pity, I thought I could leave you here forever.”

Behind him, Qin Xiuxue’s gaze fell on the three, a hint of doubt crossing her mind.

This secret realm wasn’t as simple as the rumors suggested. On the contrary, only after truly entering did one realize how fraught with danger it was, catching people off guard… Qin Xiuxue’s slender fingers lightly brushed over the green jade pendant at her waist. Last time, she had accidentally obtained a soul jade from a forbidden area, which contained an old man who claimed to be an alchemy master who had transcended tribulation in his past life.

She had taken him as her master, and thanks to the old man’s guidance along the way, their team had quickly regrouped and avoided most of the traps in the secret realm, staying several steps ahead of other cultivators, traveling without rest… But how had they still fallen behind these three?