Feeling inexplicably like someone was watching him, Lin Zhusheng swallowed the fruit in his mouth, turned his head to look around, but didn’t see anyone staring in this direction, so he withdrew his gaze.

Their leading disciple had arrived, who was the apprentice of the corresponding Inner Sect’s Second Elder. He looked amiable and easy to talk to, smiling broadly.

From this person, he finally learned that because the Inner Sect’s Grand Elder had no direct disciples, the senior brother from the Sect Master Peak had come to fill the Grand Elder’s vacancy.

He filled it quite well; it would have been even better if he had brought along the Lan Junhua he had saved earlier.

Walking in the group, he stepped onto the already prepared flying boat, and the height-fearing Master Lin immediately stood in the center of the boat, strategically distancing himself from the edge.

The flying boat slowly ascended, moving away from the ground.

A sturdy fellow was pulled out to explain the precautions to these new disciples, while the other leading disciples relaxed, at least having nothing to do during this half-day flight.

The boss looked left and right, and finally found the person he was looking for at the edge of the empty boat. He ran over in a few steps, saying as he ran, “Why are you standing here alone? Those disciples look like they still want to chat with you.”

Wen Baizhou turned his head and simply replied, “Aren’t you here too?”

“I’m different,” the boss leaned against the railing and said, “They don’t want to talk to me. I came to ask you something.”

The wind blew, lifting his black hair on the side of his face. Wen Baizhou glanced over, “What is it?”

“I saw something,” the boss pointed to the back of his head and said, “Is that little friend’s hairpin the one you asked me to make before?”

After all, it was something he made himself. Although it was phrased as a question, he was basically sure.

When he made it before, he wondered why this person would need such a thing; it turned out it was a gift for someone.

Wen Baizhou confirmed, saying, “He’s not good at doing delicate work, so this is more convenient.”

“?”

He just admitted it without any concealment. The boss was taken aback by his honesty, scratching his head after a couple of seconds, saying, “… So that’s how it is—wait, what?!”

The boss slapped the railing, incredulously saying, “Are you the kind of person who gives gifts?”

In his impression, this person was always the one receiving gifts and would refuse them all, proud enough to make one want to punch him a couple of times.

Wen Baizhou raised an eyebrow and retorted, “Why can’t I be?”

Something felt off.

Sensing something, the boss leaned in a bit closer and asked, “He bought a sword from me; it wouldn’t be you who introduced him, would it?”

Wen Baizhou shook his head, “I just let him come take a look; he picked the sword himself.”

That was equivalent to him introducing him. The boss raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t expect Ling Xujun to be so enthusiastic.”

Then he curiously asked, “When did you meet that little friend?”

Although they didn’t spend every day together, they did see each other often, and he had never heard this person mention this outer sect disciple before. It was as sudden as if he had popped out of the ground.

“Not long ago, I ran into him a few months back when I went to the outer sect.”

Wen Baizhou lowered his eyes, looking at the clouds and mist quickly passing beneath the flying boat, with mountains faintly visible in the fog. His emotions were unclear as he quietly said, “… It’s more like a long time no see.”

His expression was a bit off, intriguing. The boss didn’t expect that a casual question would lead to something seemingly significant. He quickly switched to gossip mode, asking, “Have you met him before?”

He was just short of bringing out some sunflower seeds.

Wen Baizhou neither confirmed nor denied, only saying, “He probably doesn’t remember me anymore.”

This topic ended there; no matter what the boss asked afterward, he didn’t respond again.

With his gossiping heart unsatisfied, the boss turned his head to peek at a group of blue-clad disciples in the distance, focusing his gaze on a face that had no distinguishing features. Later, he saw someone sit down beside that person, chatting away in a familiar manner.

A standout individual, he could spot them in the crowd at a glance. After looking a couple more times, he finally reacted, saying, “Isn’t that the young master from the Song family who has close ties with the Medicine Sect?”

The Song family handled the procurement and sale of spiritual herbs for the Medicine Sect and had already squeezed into the ranks of prominent families, with a substantial fortune. He didn’t know much about these matters since he usually focused on taking care of his beloved sword, but he had heard of this young master, who was said to have been working as a handyman, never trying to rise up the ranks. He didn’t expect he had already entered the outer sect now.

It seemed he had a good relationship with the little friend who bought the sword.

Wen Baizhou turned his head to take a look.

He had seen that person before, during the outer sect handyman disciple academy test; at that time, the other party was also with Lin Zhusheng.

After a couple of glances, he withdrew his gaze, casually tapping the jade pendant at his waist.

Half a day passed quickly; chatting on the boat and munching on some snacks made the time fly.

In the cultivation world, aside from other things, there were indeed many mountains. He had never dared to stand near the edge of the boat, and when it was finally time to disembark, Lin Zhusheng excitedly stepped off the boat to greet his new map. However, when he set foot on the ground and looked up, he was still faced with an endless expanse of mountains.

From one deep mountain to another, but this time it was different; they were heading into the depths of the mountain.

“…”

It felt like they had left the sect, yet it also felt like they hadn’t. Standing in place, looking up at the vast mountains, he lowered his head to poke the little cat head and said, “Cancel my subscription.”

Cancellation was ineffective; life still had to move forward. Zhang Jing passed by him, and seeing his expression, he knew what he was thinking and patted his shoulder.

Good news: the secret realm inside the deep mountains was just a teleportation portal; they weren’t actually active in these deep mountains.

Bad news: the secret realm was a vast, boundless place resembling a forest, no different from the deep mountains.

There was no sunlight in the secret realm; it turned dark in an instant after entering. The leading disciples took out lamps, one for each person.

While distributing the lamps, Wen Baizhou said something to the Second Elder’s disciple. He didn’t expect him to take the initiative to speak to him; the Second Elder’s disciple’s eyes widened, scanning the crowd of disciples, and then he responded with a good.

Blending in felt like a large spring outing, with no training effect at all, and several teams dispersed.

To retract the previous statement, the secret realm was indeed more fun than wandering around the sect’s mountains.

Carrying lamps, he walked through the woods with his fellow disciples. After walking for less than a few minutes, they successfully discovered new fruits they hadn’t seen before. A satisfied player, Lin You, was happy again, munching as he walked, his legs moving joyfully.

“…”

He knew this person was easily satisfied, but he didn’t expect it to be this easy. The muscles on Zhang Jing’s face twitched as he walked beside him.

Along the way, they didn’t see any ferocious beasts; instead, they found quite a few new fruits. A small team transformed from just Lin Zhusheng munching on fruits to everyone having one, looking like a spring outing scene at a glance.

The leading disciple also got one, silently accepting the fruit.

Having eaten a bit too much fruit, Lin Zhusheng fell silent on the next stretch of the road, quietly feeling drowsy.

In contrast, his fellow disciples perked up because they finally encountered a beast, and a moment of inattention could lead to injury.

Most of the beasts were concentrated at levels 4 and 5, which most of the disciples couldn’t handle alone, but they could work together to tackle them.

Having dealt with a bunch for a task before, he had already summarized his experience to take one down with a single strike. He wasn’t very interested in this, but holding onto the mindset that he was part of the team, he symbolically poked around with his little broken wooden sword in the crowd. Although he didn’t do much, at least he was tiring himself out.

They would be in the secret realm for several days, and by the afternoon, they finally reached their designated resting place.

It looked like a resting place passed down through generations, with stone benches, stone chairs, and a bonfire pit. They must have skipped the fruit-picking process along the way; other teams had arrived before them and had already started to rest, mingling together, making it hard to tell which team was which.

This was the perfect opportunity for someone like him to take advantage of the chaos.

At this moment, he had a chance to act alone. Holding his little lantern, he quietly faded from the sight of others, stealthily retreating, and ultimately slipped silently into the thicket.

On the way here, he had seen some glowing places, but he hadn’t gone to check them out because he couldn’t leave the group. Now was a good time to explore.

He still had a number change card on him, ensuring his safety. Once he entered the thicket, he charged in without hesitation.

Encountering a beast, he took it down with a single sword strike, relying on his decent sense of direction to head back. Finally, just when he thought he was about to get lost, he found the familiar light.

A purple glow, faintly visible, he knocked out a beast that was preparing to ambush him from behind with a single strike. The little broken wooden sword spun in his hand, and he didn’t look back, pushing aside the branches in front of him, and the light suddenly brightened significantly.

It was a sunken cave, about a meter to nearly two meters off the ground, just at the edge of triggering his fear of heights. The light was coming from inside.

After measuring the distance carefully, looking left and right, he felt it was doable. He pumped himself up, counting down three, two, one, and directly leaped like a great roc taking flight.

“…”

The feeling of soaring came instantly, but he shifted back to the edge of the steep slope, landing steadily on both feet, clearly feeling something gripping his collar.

Turning around, he met a pair of familiar eyes illuminated by the dim yellow light. After a second of reaction, he voiced his confusion, “… Senior Brother?”

Well, his sneaky escape had been discovered.

Retracting his prepared leap, he didn’t know how the senior brother had just happened to arrive. He lowered his head and acknowledged with a “mm.”

Raising a hand to pat the hand still gripping his collar, Lin Dapeng politely suggested that the senior brother loosen his grip first.

The senior brother released his grip, bending down to help him straighten his clothes.

Straightening… or not.

“…”

Every knot and every component was connected in unexpected places with unexpected things, and Lin Dapeng could clearly see the senior brother’s calm eyes gradually fill with confusion.