Chapter 107

“Why is it unlucky to team up with her?” Miaomiao interjected upon hearing their conversation. “It’s the joy of being carried by the top disciple!”

Si Miaoyan quickly covered her mouth.

“Oh no.”

They were going to join the fun too. Not long ago, Ye Qinghan and the others from three of the sects, excluding the Changming Sect, had a meeting. Their plan was to eliminate Ye Qiao first by crushing her identification token, and only then consider the subsequent stages.

In other words, on the first day, Ye Qiao would be the target of all the senior disciples’ pursuit.

Miaomiao, with her mouth still covered, was forcibly dragged into the secret realm.

Meanwhile, the other two sects were also taking shots at Ye Qiao to derive some joy. Chu Xingzhi said, “That detestable Ye Qiao ambushed me. When we enter the secret realm, let’s eliminate her first.”

“I’ve even come up with a name,” he continued. “We’ll be called the Avengers.”

Su Zhuo was speechless.

“The name is great, but don’t come up with any more next time.” He patted Chu Xingzhi, leading his junior sister into the secret realm.

Chu Xingzhi scratched his head, feeling like he had been mocked.

After they entered, Ye Qiao also slowly made her way into the secret realm.

Inside the realm, the sun was shining brightly. What met the eye was a fresh expanse of green, with wooden houses woven from plants and exceptionally tall, lush trees. Everything seemed perfect, except for one thing that felt off.

Ye Qiao stood still in a contemplative stance, waiting for a while.

She then looked left and right.

Trying to find her teammates.

As she walked, she called out, “Xue Yu? Ming Xuan? Mu Chongxi? Zhou Xingyun?”

Where was everyone?

She crouched down, parting the overgrown weeds, and looked for a long time but didn’t see any of her senior brothers hiding in the bushes.

Ye Qiao stayed calm for a moment.

Finally, she accepted reality.

She was alone.

The people outside were laughing hysterically.

“Hahaha, you finally got what’s coming to you!”

“You’re alone, Ye Qiao. This is your karma.”

“What does it mean to be against the world? This is what it means! They didn’t even assign you a partner to share the beatings. You’re on your own now!”

Ye Qiao didn’t need to imagine to know the people outside were having a blast. She surveyed the surroundings, then scanned the area with her spiritual sense to ensure there was no significant danger. She quickly set up a defensive formation, just in case an enemy decided to ambush her.

One small comfort for Ye Qiao was that she still had her “KFC” with her.

The little phoenix lazily glanced at her, arrogantly raising its tail and huffing.

“Now you know how good I am,” it seemed to say.

Ye Qiao hugged it, deciding to stay within the formation and not go out. As long as no one found her, she could easily survive until the final round.

…

Teams of two entered the secret realm. Unlike Ye Qiao, who was constantly worried about someone seeking revenge, the others immediately headed to the beast nests to locate the beasts.

For the first few hours, everything was calm. However, halfway through his beast hunt, Mu Chongxi suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

A vine, as fast as lightning, lashed out at him.

Mu Chongxi spun his sword, cutting it off. “What the hell is this?”

“Mutated vine,” Xue Yu said, scattering poison, which quickly withered the leaves. “Be careful.”

Around them, the green vines had grown and were gradually enveloping them.

As a sword cultivator, Mu Chongxi took the lead in clearing a path, but he soon came back, grimacing in pain.

“As soon as I got close, it swatted me away.” He rubbed his shoulder. “And there are too many of them to cut through.”

When did the vines in the secret realm become so formidable?

Xue Yu pondered for a moment before offering his pill furnace. “If it gets too bad, just retreat into the shell. You be the bait while I spread the poison.”

Mu Chongxi’s mouth twitched. “…I’ll try.” It seemed that Ye Qiao’s tactics were useful in critical moments.

*

“Are these vines crazy?”

The Changming Sect wasn’t the only group encountering such issues. Other sects were also struggling. Ye Qinghan and Chu Xingzhi were together, trying to find others when suddenly, the previously still vines lashed out.

Dust flew everywhere as they dodged, leaving deep gashes in the ground.

“Damn,” Chu Xingzhi exclaimed. “What is this?”

Although they had been warned about the occasional mutated plant, it was supposed to be rare. No one had mentioned the possibility of all the plants mutating at once upon entering the secret realm.

Ye Qinghan frowned. “It doesn’t seem like a mutated demon vine.”

It was more like…

A wood-element cultivator was controlling them.

That would be even more bizarre.

Wood-element cultivators could easily control vines, but their cultivation would have to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage, and such a high-level cultivator wouldn’t be allowed in the secret realm.

Was the realm’s cultivation limit just for show?

Ye Qinghan’s frown deepened as he struggled to understand what was happening.

…

A day later.

Waking up from her nap, Ye Qiao realized that no one had come to bother her, and the entire secret realm was eerily quiet.

Sitting within her formation, she propped her chin on her hand and mused, “Ye Qinghan? Song Hansheng?”

“Qin Huai? Duan Hengdao?”

“Are you all dead?”

Her voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the secret realm. Given her aimless wandering and lack of concealment, it was odd that she hadn’t encountered anyone.

How strange.

Why was no one around?

The cultivators watching through Ye Qiao’s stone image were also confused. Someone shouted, “What’s going on? Where are all the senior disciples?” By this time, they should have at least encountered each other.

“Look over at Yun Que.”

On the other side.

Yun Que was also alone for the first time. Holding her treasure-hunting beast, she signaled it to find something valuable so she could trade with other sects’ disciples.

The treasure-hunting beast had led her to many opportunities before, and this time was no exception. Reluctantly, it began to move, leading her through the dense forest.

The little beast moved swiftly, with Yun Que stumbling to keep up. In the midst of all the twists and turns, she was completely disoriented.

In the distance, she saw a clearing with intricate symbols etched into the ground, marked by deep brown lines. Gathering her courage, she stepped forward and, seeing the protective formation undisturbed, ran towards the center where a pearl continuously absorbed energy.

She had a feeling this was something valuable.

Biting her lip, she hesitated for a moment before decisively taking it.

At that moment, all the cultivators watching outside started cursing.

“The origin pearl of the secret realm.”

The origin pearl suppressed high-level cultivators to prevent one-sided massacres.

In the grand secret realm, no one above the Nascent Soul stage was allowed inside, and before the realm opened, the five sects stationed guards outside to ensure only senior disciples could enter.

However, with the origin pearl taken, the suppression was gone.

This meant that high-level cultivators could now enter the realm.

And the senior disciples inside, still unaware of what had happened, were now vulnerable.

“Does she not know that’s the origin pearl?”

“The strangest part is how she managed to take it without triggering any protective barriers.”

“Is this Moonlight Sect disciple cursed?”

“From the beginning, I’ve felt something was off about her. She seems to get all the good stuff. The higher-ups in the cultivation world should investigate her. I doubt even her spiritual roots are genuine.”

What kind of person was she?

The higher-ups in the cultivation world were also briefly thrown into chaos. With so many senior disciples in the secret realm, each one cultivated with immense effort and time, losing even one would be a significant loss.

“Send someone into the secret realm to inform them, quickly.”

It wasn’t just cultivators keeping an eye on the competition; demonic cultivators were also watching.

Especially those demonic forces who had always coveted the senior disciples of the cultivation world. If they seized this opportunity, what chance did the still-Jindan-stage children have against them?

“No one can enter; the secret realm has already closed.”

“The demon tribe possesses an artifact that forcibly opens the secret realm, but it can only be used once and allows entry for just two people. I suspect both are at the Nascent Soul stage,” said an elder from Chengfeng Sect. “Things happened too quickly. If we want to open it again, it will take us two days.”

Who knew if they would make it in time?

In just one night, the situation had turned upside down. Almost all the senior disciples searching for beasts and people were caught, except for Ye Qiao, who was lazily sleeping and hiding within her formation.

She was incredibly adept at hiding. First, she found an inconspicuous spot to hide, plastered talismans all around, and then concealed her presence within a formation.

A cultivator joked, “I guess this is what they mean by ‘the most reckless person among people is the king among dogs,’ right?”

Ye Qiao was also utterly confused. She looked around the eerily quiet secret realm. “What is going on?”

Were they all isolating her?

Ye Qiao instinctively felt that the senior disciples wouldn’t be so childish, but she still stayed hidden.

What if it was a trick?

She waited for several hours, thinking something was off. No matter how much those sects hated her, it was impossible for a whole day to pass without an increase in the beast count on the jade slips.

Either Ye Qinghan and his group were hiding like ninjas for a day just to ambush her, or…

Something major had happened in the secret realm.

With that thought, Ye Qiao emerged from her formation, extended her spiritual sense to observe the surroundings. Everything was deathly silent. After a moment of contemplation, she decided to head towards the inner part of the secret realm to find out where all the missing senior disciples had gone.

The fact that Ye Qiao was still alive ignited a glimmer of hope among the outside cultivators and elders.

“Although the situation is grim, let’s not lose all hope. After all, Ye Qiao is still in there, isn’t she?”

“She’s only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Can she really save the day?”

“Hey, maybe she can.”