Chapter 7: Secret Realm

Wen Xi obviously didn’t expect her to act so unconventionally. She was stunned for a moment and asked, “How do you want me to thank you?”

Xi Meng glanced at her, hiding a calculating look in her eyes: “Do you think you will give me whatever I want?”

Wen Xi hesitated for a moment and used more precise words: “As long as I can do it.”

“Then,” Xi Meng suddenly moved closer to Wen Xi, “Why don’t you kiss me?”

Kiss!

Kiss??

Kiss??

Wen Xi hurriedly stepped back and sternly refused, “No.”

Seeing her look stunned, Xi Meng was afraid that someone would chase her away if she got excited, so she quickly said, “Okay, okay, I was teasing you for a few words, but you took it seriously? You should learn your lesson now and know not to say anything careless, right?”

Wen Xi nodded, then shook her head, and finally looked at her deeply and said, “I’ll remember that.”

Tsk.

This expression seemed to show how terrifying she was. Xi Meng curled her lips and said, “Okay, let’s go check on the group of people we caught before. It’s been so long, they should have confessed everything. Let’s finish the questioning and leave as soon as possible. This place is not a good place, right?”

Wen Xi caught a glimpse of the disgusted expression on her face, which was exactly the same as Chen Bi’s, and felt that the master and the pet were indeed a perfect match.

The two found Ji Yun and fellow apprentice Liu Si from the Discipline Hall.

The demon cultivator had no principles and would tell everything he knew when asked.

Things turned out just as Xi Meng had guessed. The Yinhun Sect and the Shikui Sect had secretly formed an alliance and were preparing to capture and kill the immortal disciples in the secret realm.

The person who first planned this action was Zhu Liao, a disciple of the Yinhun Sect.

Zhu Liao was a man of extremely vicious character and methods, but somehow he managed to curry favor with an elder in the sect and became highly respected within the sect. Most of the ordinary disciples also followed him as their leader.

Before entering the secret realm, Zhu Liao acted in a rather eccentric and ruthless manner. He disregarded the agreement on the surface and secretly captured disciples of the immortal sect to refine their souls.

This time, he was even more unscrupulous after entering the secret realm without anyone to restrain him. Within two days, he contacted the people from the Corpse Puppet Sect and persuaded them to form an alliance to encircle and kill the group of immortal disciples.

According to the confessions of the Yinhun Sect disciples, they were divided into several teams. One group surrounded and killed the lone disciples of the Immortal Sect, while the other group followed Zhu Liao to ambush outside the Yanxin Valley.

After Ji Yun finished telling all the information those people confessed, he turned to look at Xi Meng next to him.

When in the sect, he had never seen Wen Xi get close to anyone.

Even though he approached the other party several times in the name of his junior brother, he never received any preferential treatment.

He originally thought that this was just his senior sister’s nature. Although he felt disappointed, he could understand it.

But it turns out not to be.

He had just clearly seen this woman chatting and laughing with his senior sister, behaving very intimately, and the other person was even wearing his senior sister’s clothes.

Ji Yun inexplicably felt jealous.

But she still maintained a gentle smile and said, “Senior Sister, who is this fellow Daoist?”

Wen Xi didn’t know what he was thinking, so she said truthfully, “Her name is Xi Meng, my… friend.”

After saying that, Wen Xi turned to Xi Meng and said, “This is my junior fellow apprentice, Ji Yun.”

“Oh, since you are Wen Xi’s junior brother, then you are also my junior brother.” Xi Meng looked at Ji Yun and said enthusiastically, “Hello, junior brother!”

Friend?

Ji Yun looked at the other person and said with a gentle smile, “Fellow Daoist Xi’s cultivation seems to be lower than mine.”

In the world of cultivation, age is not important; only strength matters.

Ji Yun’s words translated to ‘You don’t deserve to be my senior sister.’

Xi Meng bared her teeth secretly, then thought of something and sent a provocative look to Ji Yun behind his back, and then suddenly lowered her eyebrows and said sadly, “Yes, sorry, it’s my fault that I was too happy and overstepped the line. With my cultivation level, I really don’t have the qualifications to say that.”

Wen Xi frowned slightly when she saw this and glanced at Ji Yun.

Logically speaking, the other party was right, but emotionally, it was too hurtful for him to go against other people’s kindness.

“You don’t need to be so self-deprecating. Although your current cultivation level is not as good as his, it is only because you lack the resources to cultivate. In the future, I will find more natural treasures for you. With your state of mind, you will definitely be able to surpass him soon.”

As they got along, she occasionally felt that the other party’s words were a bit frivolous, but with the conversation and knowledge displayed by the other party, she would never let others see through it.

Xi Meng looked up upon hearing this, held the other person’s hand, and was touched: “Wen Xi, you treat me so well.”

Wen Xi didn’t want to offend her in front of others, especially since it was Ji Yun who had just hurt her.

Because of this, Wen Xi did not push her away for the first time, but endured the awkwardness in her heart and said, “We are friends.”

Seeing this, Xi Meng held Wen Xi’s hand tighter and silently thanked Ji Yun in her heart.

Ji Yun was stunned by this operation that turned passive into active.

What made him even more sad was Wen Xi’s performance and attitude.

He was a legitimate junior brother, and they had been together for several years but had not developed much affection for each other. Yet, a stranger who had only appeared for a few days had won the favor of the senior sister first. He was not convinced.

Ji Yun’s jealousy intensified, and he continued to ask unwillingly, “By the way, I wonder which sect Fellow Daoist Xi Meng is from? She looks very unfamiliar.”

Ji Yun had a wide circle of friends. When he was waiting for the entrance to the secret realm to open, he made friends with disciples from all the major sects, but he had never heard of Xi Meng.

Xi Meng’s expression was frank: “The Demonic Sound Sect.”

Demonic cultivator.

Ji Yun’s expression changed instantly. He looked at Wen Xi with disapproval and opened his mouth to say: “…”

“Junior brother.” Wen Xi interrupted him, with a warning in her words.

But Ji Yun was determined to persuade his senior sister to return to the right path.

“Sister, she is a demon cultivator. How can a demon cultivator be a good person? How do you know that she is not in the same group with those ghosts from the Yinhun Sect?”

“Ji Yun.” Wen Xi frowned and said, “Is this what your master taught you? Not being able to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, but only knowing how to generalize?”

Ji Yun looked at her expression and suddenly remembered what happened on the boat that day. He was startled, and just as he was hesitating whether to admit his mistake, he caught a glimpse of satisfaction in Xi Meng’s eyes out of the corner of his eye.

Not good!

Just as this thought came to mind, he heard the other party pretend to be magnanimous and say, “Wen Xi, it’s okay. I am a demon cultivator, so it’s normal for Junior Brother to have such doubts. Don’t blame him.”

When Wen Xi heard her considerate words, Ji Yun seemed even more narrow-minded in comparison.

It just doesn’t make sense that a cultivator of magic should be misunderstood.

Wen Xi looked at the other person and said firmly, “That’s not the case. Since you didn’t do it, others can’t wrongly accuse you.”

Wen Xi has a simple and sincere nature, and everything she says and does comes from her heart.

She said that if she believed in Xi Meng, she would never have any doubts and would not allow others to slander her.

When Xi Meng met the other person’s sincere eyes, she felt a little uneasy for some reason.

In the matter of besieging and killing the immortal cultivators, she did have a clear conscience. But in other matters, it was not the same. Her purpose of staying with Wen Xi in the beginning was not simple.

“Thank you.” Xi Meng turned her head away and didn’t look into her eyes.

In the end, Wen Xi had to force Ji Yun and Xi Meng to apologize.

Time was running out, so Wen Xi thought about it and decided to split her troops into two groups.

She and Xi Meng went outside Yanxin Valley first, to warn the uninformed disciples to prevent them from rashly entering into an ambush and to investigate the enemy’s details.

Ji Yun led the remaining disciples to meet up with others and went to look for lone disciples and notify people from other sects.

Wen Xi’s decision was not without reason. Although Ji Yun was a little dissatisfied, business was more important, so he didn’t say anything more.

—

Yanxin Valley is located in the center of the Liusha Region.

The entire Yanxin Valley is surrounded by rugged black rocks, isolating the yellow sand of the Quicksand Region outside the valley.

It is said that Yanxin Valley, and even the entire Quicksand Region, was originally a place of lush grass and flying birds. Later, the owner of the secret realm captured a large number of small Nether Flames for some reason and placed them in the valley to raise. Under the constant burning of the flames day and night, the flowers and plants in the valley were reduced to ashes, the soil dried up, and the rocks were burned black.

Afterward, although the owner of the secret realm took away the flames, Yanxin Valley could no longer restore its former scenery. Even the trees, flowers, and plants outside the valley began to wither and degenerate, eventually forming a wasteland of quicksand.

When Wen Xi and the others arrived near Yanxin Valley, they did not find anyone from the Yinhun Sect. There were only two possibilities: one was that they arrived too early, and the other was that the other party was very good at hiding, and they did not find them.

After exploring the area for a while, Xi Meng’s face suddenly changed. She pulled Wen Xi back dozens of miles and hid behind a sand dune for caution.

After hearing the other party’s command to throw out a concealment array to cover the two of them, Wen Xi asked, “Have you found anyone?”

Xi Meng nodded solemnly, “Yes. I just discovered that there is a level 4 concealment formation set up ten feet from the valley entrance. But judging from the aura, the level of the formation is higher than level 4. I guess the person who set up the formation may have superimposed other formations on it, so the actual power of the formation is far greater than level 4. It is indeed difficult for a cultivator like you, who is not familiar with formations, to detect it.”

Generally speaking, only cultivators at or above the Jindan stage can set up a fourth-level formation, but with the help of a formation plate, those with a slightly higher talent for formations can do it. This person, not only is he highly talented, but he can also be called a prodigy; he can even stack several different formations on this basis.

When did such a genius appear among the demon cultivators? How come she had never heard of him at all?

Or maybe this person was just like her, having his cultivation sealed when he came in?

If it’s the latter…

She glanced at Wen Xi and said, “Although I can see this formation, it is quite difficult to crack it.”

Although Wen Xi didn’t understand formations, she knew some basic common sense. Xi Meng was already extremely talented to be able to do this, and asking for more would be unreasonable.

“Don’t worry too much. You can see that this is already very good. Take a rest today, and we will go and take a look tomorrow. If it is really impossible, I still have the sword in my hand.”

Xi Meng didn’t quite understand what she said: “You don’t mean to use violence to break the formation, do you?”

Xi Meng made a casual remark, but Wen Xi really nodded and said seriously, “Why not?”

Wen Xi spoke with great ambition and confidence.

No matter what, she must break the formation and kill the person.

Anyone who dares to touch her Yiyuan Sect will have to pay the price.

And…

Wen Xi glanced in the direction of Yanxin Valley and suppressed the emotions that suddenly surged in her chest.

“I don’t have time,” Wen Xi said.

Xi Meng didn’t hear the second half of her sentence, still immersed in the urge to slap the other person to wake her up.

At a certain moment, she felt as if she saw the shadows of those idiots from Wanjianmen in Wen Xi.

This shouldn’t be the case. With the appearance of the woman in front of her, there’s no way she could be associated with that group of brainless and stubborn guys.

It’s not that she looks down on sword cultivators; it’s just…

After pondering for a long time, Xi Meng did not give up and said, “You are not really a sword cultivator, are you?”

Wen Xi had no idea what the other person was thinking, so she nodded and said, “Yes.”

“But your sword…”

What kind of swordsman would carry a level one broken iron sword all day long? Isn’t this just for fun?

“It will break,” Wen Xi frowned.

Xi Meng inexplicably heard a hint of grievance in her tone.

She looked at Wen Xi’s face carefully again and comforted herself in her heart: It’s okay, maybe she is an exception, and this person is also practicing the way of ruthlessness, so don’t panic.

Thinking of this, Xi Meng immediately relaxed and said, “Forget it, don’t worry. I’ll study it more; there may be a solution.”

Just think of it as repaying the other party for protecting me today.

After all, if the person who set up the formation was really the same as her, Wen Xi, who was in the Foundation Establishment Stage, would definitely get injured if she resisted it head-on.

Wen Xi nodded but still said, “Don’t force it.”

Xi Meng smiled and said, “Okay.” It was you who were doing it reluctantly.