The campfire crackled and popped, illuminating two faces that were as quiet as chickens.

Even though the conversation wasn’t directed at him, Lin Zhusheng still felt an inexplicable sting of rejection when the words landed, especially paired with the smiling, curved brows of the person across from him. His senior sister’s heart raced, and she took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her forehead, saying, “Little friend… why do you seem so good at rejecting people?”

Lin Zhusheng continued to wave his hands frantically, his whole body signaling a denial, “That’s not it! I just suddenly thought of those words.”

The way he said it was so smooth that it didn’t seem like something he just came up with. His senior sister wiped her sweat again, momentarily at a loss for words, and could only nod along, “Oh, I see.”

With no other questions to ask, or rather, too afraid to dig deeper and uncover something serious, she chose to keep her mouth shut for now. But before she did, she made a small request, “…Could you say what you said earlier again?”

It was a very useful template, and she felt that with a few tweaks, she could use it too.

Eager to help, Lin leaned in slightly and quietly repeated what he had said.

“…”

What started as a conversation had inexplicably turned into a sharing session, with one person speaking softly and the other jotting down notes. Song Ming sat to the side, eventually averting his gaze.

The three sects’ joint team had made it through their first safe night, and the next day, they continued their journey toward the center of the secret realm.

After two days of travel, they had basically left the edge of the secret realm and officially entered the forest designated as the inner area.

It was quite unusual.

They had encountered quite a few demon beasts on the outskirts, but once they entered the mid-section of the forest, they hardly saw any.

Logically, the deeper they went, the higher the level of the demon beasts, and their territories would be larger, meaning there should be fewer of them per unit area. But it was strange that they hadn’t encountered any at all. There were plenty of dragging marks on the ground, and they looked fresh, indicating that there should be demon beasts active nearby.

Mainly, they hadn’t seen any powerful demon beasts.

It was as if the demon beasts in the forest had vanished into thin air. The heavenly materials and earthly treasures hidden in the woods were still there, but the accompanying beasts were nowhere to be found, leaving the group of disciples to pick up the scraps.

As they moved deeper, the strange aura that hadn’t dissipated grew stronger, but nothing happened, so they could only temporarily ignore it.

Once again, they spent the night in the forest. As the campfire blazed, the disciples took the opportunity to rest and count the heavenly materials and earthly treasures they had gathered over the past few days. Lin Zhusheng sat at the edge of the group, looking up at the increasingly close orbit center in the sky, yawning while propping up his little broken wooden sword.

His buddy Song Ming was called over by the senior sister of the Hehuan Sect to help, and with the little cat in his clothes still sleeping, he had no one to chat with. The surroundings were eerily quiet.

In the silence, footsteps approached. Chen Jinghao came over, bringing a few sweet fruits, and sat down beside him.

After receiving the fruits, Lin Zhusheng thanked him and took a bite, discovering they were quite tasty, so he gave a thumbs up.

Chen Shaozong awkwardly shifted his gaze away, the corners of his mouth secretly curling up.

“Isn’t it a bit quiet here?” Lin Zhusheng asked while sitting cross-legged on the ground, munching on the fruit and looking around, “Where are the others?”

Chen Jinghao replied, “They said there’s a stream nearby, so they went to wash up.”

In a secret realm like this, they should have been extremely cautious and not taken the time for such things, but this unexpected peace had emboldened some to go wash their faces and arms together.

The Jingchen Jue wasn’t something everyone could use, and in times like this, the simplest methods were often the most effective.

One by one, those who had gone to wash their faces returned, and as it was time to rest, the three sects counted their numbers.

A few were missing, and after the count, there was no sign of them returning.

After a brief moment of thought, Lin Zhusheng propped up his little broken wooden sword and stood up, saying, “Where’s the place to wash up? I’ll go take a look.”

“I know.”

The senior sister who had finished counting the numbers pulled Chen Jinghao over, saying, “Let’s go together; I’ll lead the way.”

Not all of them could go, just in case, so Song Ming was left behind to watch over the disciples present.

The forest was dense with leaves, blocking out much of the light from above, making it quite dim. They ultimately had to manually light lamps, but fortunately, the disciples from the Qi Sect had all sorts of strange items, so carrying lamps wasn’t unusual.

The dim yellow light swayed in the wind of the woods as the three of them followed the small path forward, trying to discern their direction amidst the rustling of leaves.

There was indeed a small stream, and they could already hear the sound of rushing water from a distance.

The stream seemed a bit turbulent, with the sound of rushing water never ceasing. As they approached the washing area, there were no voices from the disciples amidst the sound of water.

“Splash—bang—”

A nearly imperceptible abnormal sound came from the water, causing Lin Zhusheng to pause his steps. He then quickly dashed forward, gripping his wooden sword tightly.

The relaxed atmosphere vanished in an instant. Sensing something was off from his demeanor, the other two also shifted from walking to running, quickly bursting out of the woods.

By the stream, there were no trees to block their view, and the light shone directly down. They saw a hand barely submerged in the water and a shadow swiftly fleeing from the woods.

Without a sound, everything unfolded in silence. If they had arrived just a moment later, this place would have returned to normal.

“Chen Jinghao, chop down the trees!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the senior sister jumped into the stream, her white jade folding fan flying out in an instant, sweeping through a patch of trees. As the ancient trees fell, a shadow was revealed within, and Lin Zhusheng switched from his wooden sword to a real sword, rushing forward, the shining blade leaving a trail of bright light.

Branches mixed with dry leaves brushed past his ears as he stepped over the fallen ancient trees, spinning the sword in his hand before thrusting it down into the shadow.

【BOSS: Nightmare (Initial State)】
【Main Quest: Defeat Nightmare (0/1)】
【Quest Reward: Instant Life-Saving Pill】

The moment the sword pierced the shadow, a health bar popped up above his field of vision, long and stretched out, with the name below it showing the health points followed by an uncountable string of zeros, while quest prompts kept popping up.

After being hit, the shadow transformed into a misty substance, revealing a figure wrapped within it. Once the black mist dissipated and reformed, it turned into thinner shapes, re-wrapping around the disciples who had been dragged into the woods.

Before the disciples’ figures were completely covered again, Lin Zhusheng broke through the fallen trees and branches, twisting in mid-air, his long sword spinning and emitting a blinding light as he struck the shadow again.

Seizing the moment when the black mist was reassembling, he landed, supporting his sword, and reached out to grab the fallen disciple, pulling them away from the swiftly approaching shadow.

The shadow continued to pursue, only to be cut off by the folding fan flying in from the side.

After tossing the disciple in his arms to Chen Jinghao, Lin Zhusheng went to grab another disciple who was not far away.

“Splash—”

Amidst the sound of the rushing water, a voice emerged as the senior sister of the Hehuan Sect surfaced with someone from the water, her long hair soaked, quickly swimming toward the shore.

The moment the two of them reached the shore, a shadow emerged from the water, tightly wrapping around their ankles just as they were about to escape.

Dragging someone with him, Lin Zhusheng turned and swung his sword to fend off the pursuing shadow. As his clothes fluttered, he quickly leaped to the riverbank, and while letting go of the person in his hands, the little broken wooden sword appeared beside him, accurately stabbing toward the shadow that emerged from the water.

The shadow dissipated, transforming into black mist as it was swept away by the stream, and he retracted the little wooden sword, extending his hand.

With their ankles freed, the senior sister grasped his outstretched hand, using it to pull herself out of the water.

Three disciples were missing, but all three were here. After multiple interruptions, the shadow seemed to have given up, retreating rapidly in one direction.

Chen Jinghao set the disciple he was holding down and wanted to chase after it, but Lin Zhusheng quickly stepped forward to grab him, shifting his gaze to the two disciples lying neatly on the ground, saying, “Let’s not worry about that for now; let’s check on their condition.”

Only he understood the strength of the Nightmare present. After all those sword strikes, the shadow had merely changed form, and the health bar hadn’t dropped at all. Chasing after it would only make them a delicious snack.

Right now, the most important thing was the few disciples who had been attacked.

The lamp that had fallen to the ground was picked up again, illuminating the three disciples lying on the ground.

Including the one who had fallen into the water, all three were breathing steadily, their eyes tightly closed; they must have fainted from the sudden turn of events.

Using the dim yellow light, Lin Zhusheng crouched down to take a closer look at the fallen individuals, his gaze landing on the black patterns that faintly appeared beneath their skin. His brows furrowed slightly, and then he looked up at the drenched senior sister and the faint black patterns that were emerging on the ankles of the person she had rescued, finally saying, “Let’s head back.”

Each of them took a disciple and returned along the same path. On the way back, they received a lot of shocked looks from the other disciples.

There was no time to ask what had happened; a group of disciples rushed forward to take the unconscious three from their hands.

The space in their storage bags was limited, and they had to leave most of it for heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Other than essential items, the disciples hadn’t packed anything, including clothes and food. With such a large group, they could only piece together some simple clothing for the fallen disciples.

But there was also a senior sister who had just taken a dip in the water. The senior sister, wearing a soaked pink and white outfit, sat by the campfire, waving her hand to say it was nothing.

If she dried her clothes a bit more, they would be fine. The bodies of cultivators weren’t that weak; they could endure a little cold.
—Or at least, they used to be able to.

A chill rose from her ankles, mixing with the damp clothes and spreading throughout her body, even the campfire couldn’t dispel this coldness. Her arms wrapped around herself tightened slowly, and she leaned slightly forward, getting closer to the fire.

Realizing that the clothes on the fallen disciples were all that everyone could offer, Lin Zhusheng quietly crouched down beside the senior sister, pulling out a set of clothes that he had kept in his backpack but never used.

It was a reward set given for completing the task of having Wuqi recognize its master. In the sect, everyone wore disciple robes, so he hadn’t had much chance to wear it and had forgotten about it until now.

The clothes were a primrose color, somewhat similar to the color of Wuqi’s pupils, and the fabric was very smooth, with a 5% protective bonus for the entire set. He touched his own azure disciple robe, then felt the new clothes, squinting his eyes to carefully assess for a moment. After opening his eyes, he decided to take off his disciple robe.

In just a few moments, he casually put on the primrose outer robe, then handed the clean inner lining and disciple outer robe to the senior sister, saying, “Put this on.”

To avoid misunderstandings about giving someone clean clothes, he pointed at the disciple robe and explained, “This one is thicker; it seems warmer.”

The cleanliness of the clothes was secondary; the most important thing was to keep warm.

The senior sister was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and thanked him.

The helpful citizen Lin waved it off, stood up with his little broken wooden sword, and greeted her before wandering off to check on the situation of the waking disciples. Halfway through, he remembered something and scratched his head, calling over a few disciples from the Hehuan Sect to help block the senior sister while she changed clothes by the campfire.

No longer needing to wear wet clothes, she changed into the clean inner lining and then put on the outer robe that still had a bit of warmth, instantly dispelling half of the chill.

After placing the clothes by the campfire to dry, she didn’t linger, and now that she had regained some strength, the senior sister stood up to check on the three disciples.

The three disciples had already recounted the entire sequence of events during the time they had just spent. In short, they didn’t know what had happened either; they had just washed their arms and legs for a bit longer, and when they came back to their senses, the others had already left. When they tried to follow, something had grabbed their hands and feet, and when they regained consciousness, they found themselves in their current situation.

The places where the shadow had touched them had developed black patterns beneath their skin. They didn’t know what it was, only that the patterns seemed to be continuously draining the warmth from their bodies, and even though they were sitting by the campfire, they felt no warmth at all.

This secret realm was very strange, including the dragging marks they had seen earlier, and the fact that they hadn’t encountered any disciples from other sects despite traveling for so long.

After understanding the situation, the others had already left to keep watch around them, leaving only Chen Jinghao to stay by the three disciples, ready to notice anything unusual with their bodies.

When the senior sister approached, he habitually glanced over, but after retracting his gaze, he slowly realized something was off and looked up again, “Huh?”

“This is Lin Xiaoyou’s clothes.”

The senior sister sat down beside him, saying, “It still smells nice, but it’s a pity you can’t smell it.”

So that’s why she had changed clothes; no wonder she had suddenly switched outfits… wait.

Chen Jinghao’s ears turned red quickly, his eyes widening, “I didn’t mean to…”

There was no point in arguing. The senior sister wasn’t listening at all, propping her chin up as she looked over, her brows furrowing tighter the more she looked.

Chen Jinghao asked, “What are you looking at?”

“It’s nothing,” the senior sister said, “I was just thinking how your taste is surprisingly good.”

Seeing the subtle signs, she had seen too many people as a disciple of the Hehuan Sect and could easily tell if someone was good or not.

The use of “surprisingly” was quite interesting, and Chen Jinghao raised an eyebrow.

“We were just guessing earlier that you would end up with one of the recognized beauties based on looks,” the senior sister said, “Then after spending time together, you’d end up disliking each other and return to being free, repeating that cycle.”

But no one expected that this person would suddenly have a change of heart and not just chase after looks.

“…” Chen Jinghao said, “What kind of image do I have in your minds?”

“Just put in some effort,” the senior sister patted his shoulder, saying, “If you miss this chance, I’ll feel sorry for you.”

She looked around a bit more and casually asked, “Where’s your little friend?”

Chen Jinghao, lost in thought, slowly rubbed his face and pointed in a direction, saying, “He had something to do and said he wanted to be alone for a while, so he went that way.”

It wasn’t a good time to act alone, but the other party had their own thoughts and said they would be back soon, so he couldn’t stop them.

To be precise, Lin Xiaoyou wasn’t just wanting to be alone; when he left, he still had a cat tucked in his clothes.

Once he dove into the woods and confirmed there was no one nearby, he pulled the little cat out of his clothes, shaking it repeatedly to wake it up.

The little cat woke up, blinking its eyes sleepily.

It hadn’t even stirred during the commotion by the river, which was quite impressive. Lin Zhusheng gestured for it to look at the message prompt.

The little cat looked at it, thought for a moment, and then clapped its paws, saying, “Yay, main quest! This reward is pretty good.”

The Instant Life-Saving Pill, true to its name, could save a life as long as there was still a breath left; consuming it would fully restore health, equivalent to having a second life.

Player Lin also knew this reward was great, but it depended on whether they could obtain it. He patted the little cat’s head and pointed to the health bar still floating above their field of vision, saying, “That’s the Nightmare, hey, the ultimate BOSS! How could it appear here now?”

The ultimate BOSS Nightmare, a being independent of humans, demons, and beasts, was an existence that could nearly destroy the world in the game. Logically, it should only appear when players reached the later stages, having good behavior and good equipment, but today it had made a surprise appearance, which felt very strange.

According to the game’s plot, the Nightmare should currently be appearing in a certain location, then discovered and eliminated by a certain powerful figure from a certain sect. However, it hadn’t been completely eliminated and was quietly brewing and developing in some mountain gorge, ultimately evolving into a world-destroying existence, which players and sects would truly eliminate in the later stages.

Although he had skipped through the game’s plot by frantically pressing keys, he didn’t know exactly where this thing originally appeared, but he was sure it wasn’t here.

This place had cultivation suppression, and the powerful figures from the plot couldn’t enter at all, plus the Qi Sect’s young master was still here. Given the current personnel configuration, they were all supposed to die here, including the Qi Sect’s young master, but there were still a lot of plot points about the young master later on, with characters in the plot still alive and kicking, sending him flowers, letters, and spirit tools.

“Games are games, and reality is reality,” the little cat said, “The game was built on a possibility of this world’s development; in reality, the Nightmare could appear elsewhere or right here.”

It extended a paw and patted his shoulder, “You can take this opportunity to deal with it now, leaving no roots behind to avoid future troubles.”

“…?”

It sounded so easy. Here was Player Lin, who had only been in the game for less than half a year, holding a little broken wooden sword that was still a starting weapon, his eyes twitching as he slowly pointed at himself and his relatively barren equipment, making an indescribable sound, “Deal with it? Me?”

The little cat nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“…”

The little broken wooden sword spun around in his hand, and finally, the sword tip pointed at himself. Lin Zhusheng calmly thought it over, carefully compared, and rationally stated, “I think it would be quicker for me to deal with myself.”

And that would leave no roots behind.