Qin Ruqing wandered around in the secret realm for two days and found that things were indeed heading towards a tricky direction…

Mainly because during her previous treasure hunting adventures, she had already thoroughly explored the Qin family’s side of the secret realm.

The cliffs to the west, where she had found the stalactite spirit cave, and the outer edges of the dense forest were all areas she was very familiar with.

But despite searching these places, there was no trace of the Frozen Heart.

Qin Ruqing remembered what her ancestor had told her: the Frozen Heart had a “living” characteristic and could hide on its own.

So when she searched for it, she didn’t blindly search everywhere but had specific targets and directions:

Look for places in the secret realm with ice. It didn’t matter if it was not a thousand-year-old profound ice; any ice block was worth exploring.

Look for places in the secret realm where the temperature was noticeably lower. This meant several degrees cooler compared to the surrounding environment, which required attention.

Despite Qin Ruqing’s clear thinking, she hadn’t found any clues during these days.

The secret realm was too vast, and the other half was off-limits to her.

Of course, Qin Ruqing naturally thought of using the Spirit Treasure Detector.

Moreover, she hadn’t been too impatient because she relied on having the Detector. But the plan couldn’t keep up with the changes—

The darn system told her that the Spirit Treasure Detector it produced could only detect natural treasures produced in the native world; treasures materialized by the system were not included.

In short, the Spirit Treasure Detector was useless.

Qin Ruqing cursed in her heart, “Couldn’t you have told me earlier? Isn’t this just a waste of emotions!”

Qin Ruqing would never admit in her heart that she had long been planning something bad against the system.

What if she exchanged items from the system’s mall, then used the Spirit Treasure Detector to search after materialization, exploiting an unlimited bug to get rich?

But the system wasn’t stupid.

It directly blocked this loophole.

Hmph!

Qin Ruqing couldn’t fleece the system and cursed it countless times in her heart.

In the end, she had no choice but to painstakingly search on her own.

As the scope grew larger, there were several times when Qin Ruqing had already reached the boundary between the Qin and Zhang families’ secret realms.

Qin Ruqing’s adventurous spirit tempted her to search around the edges where the Zhang family wouldn’t likely notice.

But every time she thought like this, her ancestor’s evaluation of her flashed in her mind like a bright spotlight: “Exceptional talent, exceptionally clever, but lacks stability, slightly erratic, and likely to suffer greatly in the future.”

Thinking this, Qin Ruqing quickly retracted her probing steps.

No, no! She absolutely couldn’t commit the fatal flaw of the reckless heroines in novels who loved to court death!

She felt that her script was already excellent in every aspect.

As long as she cultivated steadily, her future prospects were assured.

Moreover, she had promised her ancestor to retrieve the Ice-Fire Dual Yin Grass and bring the Qin family back to the Eastern Domain.

Her life was important, and she absolutely couldn’t afford to be confused about this.

Qin Ruqing urgently muttered to herself in her heart: “Must correct the bad habit of being reckless, must be cautious, must be sincere, must be timid!”

After saying this, Qin Ruqing turned decisively without looking back.

She decided to continue searching in the Qin family’s area.

With such a large scope, there had to be places she had overlooked.

Recently, Qin Ruqing had been lingering in the secret realm, and she was sure that her secretive behavior couldn’t escape the eyes of the system, which was always by her side.

Qin Qirong and Qin Luwei.

Initially, Qirong had asked her several times, and Qin Ruqing had been evasive.

After all, she was searching for spiritual medicine for her ancestor, and being too explicit might arouse suspicion.

But today, when Qirong asked again, Qin Ruqing hesitated.

The secret realm was vast, and she didn’t know how long it would take to find what she needed alone.

Qirong and Luwei were her closest companions, and sharing a bit with them wouldn’t hurt, especially since Qirong and Luwei weren’t the type to pry deeply.

So, when Qiyuan asked, “Sister, have you been treasure hunting lately?” Qin Ruqing didn’t evade but answered directly.

“Yes, I’m looking for something very important.”

Qin Ruqing squatted down, pulling Qirong and Luwei aside.

The three of them huddled together, resembling a mysterious organization discussing secret passwords.

The atmosphere was serious, which excited Qirong. He lowered his voice like Qin Ruqing, “Sister, what is it?”

“It’s a natural spirit object that can heal our ancestor’s injuries,” Qin Ruqing said solemnly.

She didn’t hide anything and explained, “Recently, I’ve been pressing our ancestor for information, and finally, I found out the exact name of a spirit object that can help heal her.

One of them is called the Heart of Frigid Ice, the essence of ancient Profound Ice. Strangely, as soon as our ancestor mentioned it, I felt something in my spiritual consciousness, telling me that the Heart of Frigid Ice is somewhere in this secret realm!”

Apart from the part about her “spiritual consciousness sensing,” which deviated slightly from the truth, Qin Ruqing told them everything truthfully.

Qirong and Luwei were holding their breath without knowing it.

So, Qingqing was looking for medicinal herbs to heal their ancestor!

No wonder she said it was important; healing their ancestor was crucial for the Qin family.

As for Qin Ruqing’s mention of her “spiritual consciousness,” Qirong and Luwei each interpreted it differently.

Luwei’s beautiful face was serious, and she said, “We cultivators commune with heaven and earth, sensing the mysteries between them.

Therefore, we often receive extra insights, such as ‘enlightenment,’ which is a prominent example.

Besides, there are dreams. Qingqing, although I can’t imagine what you mean by your spiritual consciousness, I think it’s similar to enlightenment and dreams, both being revelations from heaven.”

As Luwei spoke, her voice became more excited. “Qingqing, this is a gift from heaven to you and our Qin family. The kind of spiritual medicine our ancestor needs may really be in this secret realm!”

Wow, Third Sister truly lives up to her scholarly reputation.

This interpretation can be considered enterprise-level!

As for Qirong, his thoughts were more straightforward. “Qingqing, my mother said you’re destined for great fortune.

According to the scriptures, people with good talents and fortunes often reincarnate as great beings.

Since you’ve already achieved such status, it’s normal for you to sense something special!”

He was a classic case of late-stage Chuuni!

At some point, Qirong had come to the conclusion that Qin Ruqing was essentially a great being reincarnated.

From then on, he believed Qin Ruqing was different from others and was very confident in his conclusion:

It’s normal for Qingqing to be abnormal; being too normal is abnormal.

Qin Ruqing was dumbfounded: You guys are incredible!

Does everyone in the cultivation world have such strong imagination? I haven’t even said anything yet,

You guys just made up all these conclusions?

And what’s even more bizarre is that somehow I find your reasoning strangely convincing?!

Qin Ruqing shook her head, moved on from that topic, and got back to the point: “I’ve searched around these past few days, but it seems the secret realm is too vast; I haven’t found anything significant yet.”

“Let’s split up when the time comes for more efficiency. When you’re searching, just pay attention to two things: first, look for ice, and second, observe where it’s colder. If either condition is met, hurry back and inform me.”

Qirong and Luwei nodded immediately, preparing to depart separately.

Qin Ruqing remembered something else and quickly called them back, reminding, “Oh, one more thing: we’re only searching on Qin family territory, not crossing into Zhang family’s turf. Relations have been tense lately over the pharmacy matter, so let’s be cautious.”

Qirong and Luwei nodded again, indicating they understood.

With everything settled, the three finally set out on their respective paths.

With help on hand, even though there hadn’t been any progress so far, Qin Ruqing felt somewhat relieved.

And so, two more days passed.

In fact, after several days of searching together without finding any clues, Qin Ruqing had already guessed that the worst-case scenario might have happened.

The Heart of Ice might actually be with the Zhang family.

Coming to this conclusion, Qin Ruqing felt frustrated for a while and then began cursing the system.

“You damn system, dare to manipulate me! Looks like I didn’t fleece enough wool lightly. Next time, not only will I fleece, but I’ll fleece you bald!”

As she cursed, Qin Ruqing pushed aside the tall grass beside her.

She surveyed the terrain and figured she was currently at the border between the Qin and Zhang family territories.

She was on the Qin family side.

The place was lush with vegetation.

She vaguely remembered this area because there was a large lake nearby called Mirror Lake.

After searching for a while and feeling a bit tired, Qin Ruqing decided to rest by the lake.

Feeling hungry and since she hadn’t fasted, she thought about catching a fish or two to grill.

She took out a standard Qin family sword from her storage bag, held it in hand, and walked towards the lake.

The water was rippling gently, exceptionally clear.

Qin Ruqing leaned over, her head reflecting in the water’s surface.

Holding her breath, fully focused, she waited for the shadow of a fish to pass by so she could strike.

But then… a bird flew overhead, and still no fish.

Qin Ruqing shifted her position and continued to wait.

Another crow flew by…

By the time the fifth bird had flown overhead and Qin Ruqing’s arm was sore from holding the sword, she finally realized something was wrong.

Why are there no fish here? It’s not like she’s a novice at fishing—she had set up her gear and baited the water.

Normally, even if the fish didn’t bite, they would at least surface for the bait.

But here, there was nothing.

Not even a sign of fish.

Frowning, Qin Ruqing planted the sword into the ground, knelt down on one knee, and stared intently at the shimmering lake surface…

Was the water too clear?

They say where the water is too clear, there are no fish.

Could it be that the water’s clarity was the reason why there were no fish in the lake?

Then the question arose: why was the water so clear?

Qin Ruqing stared at the lake for a while, and suddenly

Stretching out her hand, Qin Ruqing carefully felt the water temperature…

Honestly, it seemed normal, yet slightly cool.

But this slight coolness made Qin Ruqing unsure whether it was her own psychological effect—after all, she had been searching for ice and cool places these past few days, which might have influenced her thinking.

Walking along the edge of the lake, Qin Ruqing tested the water temperature in different spots.

Finally, she cautiously concluded: the water here was indeed slightly cool.

Maybe, probably, it wasn’t her imagination after all.

She continued walking along the lake, pondering.

She couldn’t discern anything from the surface, but she felt something was amiss.

So, should she dive down to take a look?

After a while of deliberation, Qin Ruqing suddenly halted.

She stared fixedly at the lake’s surface and muttered, “Damn system, you’d better treat me like a person!”

With a splash, she jumped into the water.

Qin Ruqing quickly cast a water evasion spell and began diving towards the lake bottom.

The duration of the spell underwater depended on the practitioner’s skill and spiritual strength.

Qin Ruqing’s proficiency with the water evasion spell… wasn’t particularly advanced, but she had a strong spiritual constitution.

In other words, she was a perpetual motion machine of spiritual energy!

Therefore, even though her recovery of spiritual energy slowed underwater, she could still persist for half an hour.

Half an hour was enough time for her to explore for a while.

Qin Ruqing descended calmly.

Halfway down, Qin Ruqing felt it—the water temperature was dropping.

It was really dropping!

This lake seemed deeper than usual lakes. As she moved deeper, the light also dimmed.

By the time she reached the lake bottom, it was pitch black, and Qin Ruqing could only rely on her spiritual sense to find her way.

Time was running out for her.

If she didn’t find anything unusual soon, she would have to return to the surface for air.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed by.

Qin Ruqing was startled, instinctively ready to cast a fireball spell, but quickly realized she was underwater and switched to using her sword.

Although she wasn’t skilled in swordplay… well, she would make do.

After sensing with her spiritual awareness for a while, she discovered it was a fish.

Just as Qin Ruqing was starting to relax, she suddenly realized something was wrong.

There were no fish in the warmer shallows earlier, but now, in this colder deep water area, there were fish.

Wasn’t that strange?

Qin Ruqing’s mind raced. With heightened vigilance, she intentionally followed the trail of the fish.

Soon, she arrived at a cave entrance surrounded by reefs.

Inside the cave, there was actually a group of fish, as if it were their nest.

Qin Ruqing swung her sword, scattering the fish.

She approached the cave entrance and carefully searched.

But there didn’t seem to be anything special.

Qin Ruqing searched hopefully for a while but found no anomalies…

Not good! Her time was almost up, and it would take a while to swim back to the surface from here.

Getting a bit anxious, Qin Ruqing’s searching became more frantic.

Yet, she still found nothing different.

The reef cave had no cracks, wasn’t deep, and was quite ordinary, like a simple fish nest.

Was she overthinking things? Qin Ruqing glanced towards the surface, feeling extremely anxious—she was running out of time.

No, she needed to calm down and think carefully…

Fish appearing inexplicably, living in such cold deep water, all huddled together in a

The fish making a nest in this place?

Could there be something special about this nest?

Qin Ruqing had a faint idea in her mind.

She abandoned using her hands and instead used what she was best at—her body, and her highly sensitive spiritual energy.

Like pushing open the doors to a new world, Qin Ruqing finally found a trace of anomaly amidst all the ordinary.

As she approached the reef cave, the sluggish feeling in her spiritual energy disappeared?

She knew her abilities were weakened underwater, and her spiritual energy recovery was slower than on land.

Moreover, not only did the sluggish feeling disappear, but there also seemed to be a mysterious energy guiding the circulation of her spiritual energy.

Sure enough, there was something mystical here.