Chapter 127

Ye Qiao was feeling really agitated. First, it was the illusion, then two Nascent Soul stage demon beasts blocking her way. Now even the next secret realm wouldn’t leave her alone. Had she violated some heavenly rule?

“Hurry, blow it up, Ye Qiao! We support you.”

“After exploring four secret realms, doesn’t Ye Qiao understand the significance of a major secret realm?”

Major secret realms open once in several decades or even centuries, filled with treasures of the world. It was the first time they’d seen someone speak so recklessly about blowing one up.

The spectators outside were jeering, fully endorsing her to blow up the secret realm. Qin Fanfan noticed the teasing tone in their voices and felt a bit conflicted.

He believed that Ye Qiao’s remark about blowing up the secret realm might not be a joke.

Perhaps sensing Ye Qiao’s blasphemous comment, the usually quiet and unresponsive secret realm grew angry. The ground beneath her feet began to change, and when she looked up, a group of demon beasts had surrounded her.

All were at the Golden Core stage, their eerie and cold beast eyes made everyone’s heart rates soar.

“Come on, the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can go back to the sect and sleep.” Ye Qiao gripped her sword resolutely, feeling a bit sorry for the other sects. It wasn’t their intention to take the rankings.

It was the stupid secret realm that forced them.

The five-person team, feeling targeted, looked at each other and let out a collective groan. They had been told the fifth round had nothing to do with them, so why was it so hard to just slack off?

People’s joys and sorrows don’t connect. At the same time, the Sword Inquiry Sect was contemplating as they looked at the empty demon beast nests.

“Where did all those demon beasts go?” Zhu You kept flipping the map in his hand, pondering, “The positions shouldn’t be wrong. Other sects shouldn’t be this fast either.”

In terms of speed, their sword cultivators were the fastest. Yueqing Sect could use talismans to speed up, but Zhu You didn’t believe a sect with so many talisman cultivators and one sword cultivator could wipe out the surrounding demon beasts.

“Judging by these swift sword techniques,” Si Miaoyan commented, “it does look like the work of Changming Sect.”

Changming Sect?

To be honest, they really had overlooked Changming Sect in the fifth round. They were usually the most eye-catching, but by the fifth round, rankings should have nothing to do with them. Yet when they checked the jade slips, they saw that demon beasts were rapidly increasing in number at a visible pace.

The two sects cooperated, spending half a day without finding a single demon beast, while Changming Sect’s numbers were skyrocketing frighteningly fast.

Bishui Sect’s of  Liu Yun blinked, “But weren’t they not participating?”

“I don’t know.” Chu Xingzhi said, “Maybe you should go and beg them to stop killing, and leave some for us?”

Liu Yun’s face darkened.

“Chu Xingzhi, shut up.”

“You’re offending every direct disciple around with your mouth.”

“I’m looking forward to him and Song Hansheng being on stage together. Both of them have sharp tongues.”

“Chu Xingzhi is foolish with a bit of nastiness, while Song Hansheng is purely nasty.”

The cultivators’ analysis was spot on.

Unbeknownst to him, Song Hansheng, who had been labeled as nasty, was preparing to return and find someone. The illusion had been shattered by Ye Qiao, yet Yun Que was nowhere to be seen. She was either lost or still trapped inside.

Yun Que was still in the illusion, which was very troublesome. It first transformed into Ye Qiao, repeatedly asking her, “Why did you steal my spiritual plant?”

This time, Yun Que was surprised to find that she no longer felt any shame about the matter. “Survival of the fittest, isn’t that the law of the cultivation world?”

Seeing that it had no effect on her, the illusion wasn’t discouraged and continued to shape-shift, turning into Yun Que herself, questioning her step by step, “To this day, joining Yueqing Sect and becoming a direct disciple because of your spiritual root, do you regret it?”

Yun Que’s expression changed slightly, then she shattered the illusion with a resolute voice, “I have a clear conscience.”

The illusion smiled lightly, “If you truly had a clear conscience, I wouldn’t be here.”

It then transformed into a girl, imitating her innocent and naive tone, and asked with a smile, “Yun Que, do you really have a clear conscience?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Yun Que’s clear and innocent eyes quickly shattered the illusion again.

She had underestimated the illusion, which could truly read the depths of her memory, involving her secrets. If these were exposed, how could she stay in the five sects in the future?

The illusion didn’t expect her to have such strong psychological resilience. It continued to approach her with a slight smile, “Then let me ask you, is that spiritual root still comfortable to use?”

“Shut up.” Yun Que’s lips tightened instantly, her pupils contracted, her face turned pale, and in the next second, she grabbed the prepared sword from her mustard seed bag, screaming and frantically slashing at the illusion multiple times.

At the moment when the illusion completely dissipated.

She was utterly shocked and unsettled.

“Who is that girl?”

“What does ‘spiritual root’ mean?”

The sword cultivator clicked his tongue twice: “To be fair, Yun Que’s sword grip was quite standard.”

“Something’s not right. The illusion wouldn’t do something so superfluous. Although it was somewhat foolish earlier, Yun Que’s reaction just now was too intense.”

The others who entered the illusion weren’t this agitated.

What exactly did the illusion see in Yun Que’s memory?

“Can someone with reliable information go and investigate?”

A group of onlooking rogue cultivators would love nothing more than to spy on these elite disciples, the status that countless cultivators aspired to. Who wouldn’t want to peek into their secrets?

“I’ll go check it out.”

“……”

While there was much speculation outside, Yun Que stumbled out of the illusion, her face deathly pale. She tried to force a naive and innocent smile, “Let’s go, senior brother.”

Song Han was disgusted by her smile and asked suspiciously, “Are you okay?”

Her complexion was terrible. The few elite disciples he had seen come out of the illusion were at most a little dazed, but none looked this bad.

Yun Que shook her head, trying to appear calm, “I’m fine.”

Meanwhile, the illusion, having found some dignity in Yun Que’s reaction, was now gritting its teeth, flipping through thousands of years of names from the cultivation world overnight.

And it silently vowed to find out who this Ma Yun was.

……

“Qin Huai from Chengfeng Sect is out, Ye Qinghan from Wenjian Sect is out, what’s going on?”

After Chengming Sect dealt with the Jindan stage demon beast, they couldn’t figure out why this secret realm seemed to target them, so they decided to hold their position for now. Xue Yu pulled out a jade slip to check. In the time it took to kill a demon beast, the content had changed drastically.

Dan cultivators being out could be understood, but what shocked them was that Ye Qinghan and Qin Huai were out together.

One was at the Nascent Soul stage, suppressed to the peak of the Jindan stage upon entering the secret realm, the other also at the peak of the Jindan stage. At this level, they should be invincible within the secret realm, yet they were both out within such a short time.

They were genuinely shocked.

“The only explanation I can think of is that Qin Huai and Ye Qinghan fought, then Qin Huai was eliminated, and at the critical moment, Ye Qinghan was attacked from behind, resulting in this outcome.”

Mu Chongxi speculated reasonably, “Maybe it was that cunning Song Han.”

Just as he finished speaking, Song Han’s name dimmed, followed by several elite disciples’ names dimming at the same time. It didn’t look like they had encountered each other and crushed their identity tokens; it seemed more like they faced something collectively that forced them out.

So, what did these elite disciples encounter inside?

“Hey, Song Han is already dead, let’s not insult the dead.” Xue Yu pretended to be sincere, then frowned, “Besides, something’s wrong.”

Even in the most intense battles, so many elite disciples wouldn’t be out by the third day. The last time so many were eliminated was during the chaotic battle devised by Ye Qiao, which caused countless elite disciples to be out within half a day.

Ye Qiao hadn’t done anything this time, so why were so many out?

Song Han, who had just come out, overheard Chengming Sect’s conversation and twisted his face in anger: “……You’re the one who’s dead.”

“What happened?”

So many elite disciples came out at once.

“It seems like they encountered a wave of Nascent Soul stage demon beasts.”

“??? Nascent Soul stage?”

It’s rare to see even one or two in a great secret realm, let alone a wave. If that’s the case, it makes sense that so many elite disciples chose to crush their identity tokens, but why would a wave of Nascent Soul stage demon beasts gather together?

“According to Ye Qiao’s guess, the secret realm might have self-awareness. Why is it targeting Chengming Sect?”

What is it about Chengming Sect that’s worth targeting? They have been the most low-key in the fifth round. If anything, Wenjian Sect should be the one targeted.

The image from the memory stone was still playing.

The current situation was indeed not good for Chengming Sect. A large-scale wave of Nascent Soul stage demon beasts was approaching, and the group was unaware.

Suddenly, Xue Yu’s face changed, “Run!”

A second before he spoke, the ground suddenly caved in.

Ye Qiao and Mu Chongxi quickly grabbed the two senior brothers who couldn’t use swords. After retreating about ten meters, the ground where they had stood had formed a deep pit.

“This secret realm is crazy.” Just as Ye Qiao finished speaking, walls began to rise around them, forming an enclosure, as if trying to trap them inside.

She narrowed her eyes, used a talisman to blast open a path, and swiftly fled, calling out to the others, “Spread out, it seems to be targeting us.”

“No.” Mu Chongxi drew his sword and corrected her seriously, “Actually, it’s mainly targeting you.”

It was obvious to anyone. As soon as the five of them separated, none were attacked, except for her.

Ye Qiao: “……”

She was unwilling to admit the fact that she was targeted wherever she went, maintaining her last bit of stubbornness, “Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

As soon as she spoke, a mutated vine came crashing down. Ming Xuan quickly burned it with a fire talisman and clicked his tongue, “See?”

“Following the little sister may not be the safest, but it will definitely be exciting.”

He had experienced being chased while with Ye Qiao at the Song family.

She was always either being targeted or on the way to being targeted.

Ye Qiao, this person.

Reliable.

But not entirely trustworthy.

“Quick, crush the identity tokens.” Xue Yu reminded. This secret realm had been targeting Ye Qiao from the beginning, so there was no point in continuing. It was time to get out.

Ye Qiao sincerely said, “To be honest, I immediately used my identity token when I saw something was wrong.”

Anyway, the fifth match is optional. It’s best if I can train, but it’s no big loss if I can’t.

“And then.” Ye Qiao spread her hands, showing him the already shattered identity token, “This is the result. I can’t get out at all.”

The teleportation formation was sealed off. Clearly, this secret realm wants to keep her here.

Although she didn’t know the reason this time, she was oddly used to it. Being unwelcomed by Heaven was her fate, she understood that.

“Wow, so the secret realm isn’t targeting the Changming Sect, it’s targeting Ye Qiao.”

“Ye Qiao’s luck is just off the charts.”

“Ye Qiao and Yun Que always seem to be opposites.”

“But a secret realm with Yun Que won’t necessarily go smoothly, while a secret realm with Ye Qiao is guaranteed to be interesting.”

A cultivator joked, “One is Heaven’s beloved daughter, the other is Heaven’s rebellious son?”

After issuing the command for a beast tide, the secret realm’s guardian felt much more at ease. It hadn’t expected the illusion to be so useless, so it had to personally intervene.

Although it wasn’t clear why Heaven suddenly issued this decree, since Heaven intended it, the secret realm would spare no effort to trip her up.

The illusion floated over eerily, “Are you really going to target her?”

After studying ‘Ultraman’ and ‘Jack Ma’ all night, it had completely understood that this person was toxic and must be avoided!

The guardian of the secret realm coldly replied, “If it weren’t for you, this useless thing, would I need to personally intervene?” It hadn’t initially taken a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator seriously.

The illusion was speechless for a moment, then angrily advised, “Who knew she played so dirty.”

“Besides, I didn’t spend two days with her for nothing. I specifically read part of her memory and found she’s quite extraordinary.” The illusion earnestly urged, “You really shouldn’t push Ye Qiao any further.”

“What if she gets desperate and blows up the secret realm?”

The guardian, however, was indifferent and resolute, “Today, I will confront Ye Qiao head-on.”

It couldn’t believe it; just a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Would a beast tide of Nascent Soul level monsters not be enough to solve the problem?

*

The five of them stood apart. Ye Qiao, being the only one targeted, was somewhat aware and prepared to find a secluded spot to forcefully break through to the Golden Core stage to avoid dragging others down.

She had been thrown into countless monster nests due to sudden terrain changes along the way. If it weren’t for Xiao Qi being reliable, surviving would have been another matter.

There were also beasts occasionally blocking her way. If she endured any longer, Ye Qiao felt she would be comparable to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

To hell with it.

She couldn’t bear it anymore.