Chapter 89 : Eek~ Scary
In the worldview of the game "Destiny," secret realms weren't particularly rare.
But they weren't common either.
And the vast majority of these were caused by unearthed rare treasures.
As everyone knows, weapons and treasures don't automatically generate or refresh at fixed points—players' equipment all drops from small monsters, bosses, and the like.
But everything must have an origin.
Many cities did have blacksmith shops, but could those ordinary blacksmiths really have the ability to forge white weapons, let alone those with various mystical properties—blue, purple, or even gold weapons?
Obviously not.
So this necessarily involves discussing one profession.
One of Great Xia's five legal professions—
Artificer.
Artificers practiced the arts of wonders—though their direct combat power was relatively weak, they possessed various mysterious methods difficult for ordinary people to understand.
Formations, artifact crafting, beast taming...
Everything other professions found difficult to achieve was encompassed under the artificer category.
In fact, aside from some naturally formed weapons and those made extraordinary through precious materials, most weapons in the world came from artificers' hands. Therefore, they could generally channel spiritual energy and provide bonuses to their owners.
Weapons sealed for long periods accumulated spiritual energy to a terrifying degree over time.
The moment they broke through the earth, this spiritual energy would be suddenly released, forming a brief secret realm lasting several days.
The secret realm before them was no different.
Bai Yuyu gazed at the swirling vortex before her. Though her eyes showed interest, her heart still hesitated.
Come on, this was a secret realm!
Though she'd heard about them long ago and many colleagues had gone inside to look, she'd never actually entered such a place in her entire life!
Her heart itched.
She was excited, but seeing the slightly curious white-haired girl beside her, all her eagerness transformed into worry.
"Right, I came out with Mu Mu this time. What if she encounters danger inside?" Bai Yuyu forcibly suppressed her reluctance and extinguished her thoughts of going in.
Mu Qinglan looked at her expression, slightly lowered her head, and guessed what she was thinking.
"Worried about my safety?"
Given Bai Yuyu's nature, she definitely wanted to explore after seeing this secret realm. The only thing that could make her hesitate was probably herself—what a caring person.
But she wasn't worried about any threats from this secret realm.
She couldn't remember the plot clearly, but she had a strong impression of the dungeon mechanics. Not to mention she was seventh-rank now—even if she were only eighth-rank, she could easily clear it after mastering the techniques, because this was originally a welfare dungeon!
However, for those who didn't know the techniques, it might be somewhat torturous to fight through.
'Mm... I can show off some strength first, but not too much, or there won't be any surprises.' Mu Qinglan thought.
'This dungeon's mechanics are still quite hard to figure out.'
'In a short time, not many people should be able to guess.'
She shook her head slightly and said softly: "Little Bai, let's go in."
"Eh?" Bai Yuyu was startled and changed the subject: "But the sky is overcast—we might not make it back in time."
"That excuse is really lame." Mu Qinglan was speechless. "I know you're worried about my safety, but look behind us—Shadow One is here. Do you think a secret realm born from this level of phenomena could threaten a sixth-rank shadow servant?"
Bai Yuyu listened in a daze, tilting her head:
"So we're going in?"
"Of course. Those who enter first will likely have advantages. If Little Bai can bring this thing back, your family will definitely be shocked." Mu Qinglan tempted.
Bai Yuyu's eyes lit up. She glanced back, confirmed Shadow One was behind them, and perked up:
"Mu Mu, let's charge!"
"I'll protect you!"
○
The sky was overcast, like a cat with its fur plucked.
On the fiery red mountain path, various martial artists scattered in search, uneven and quite disorganized.
"Senior Sister Lu, how long do we have to keep searching?"
Somewhere, a young man couldn't help asking.
The Senior Sister Lu he addressed was a woman in white martial clothing with black hair tied in a ponytail, heroic and spirited.
"Two more days." Senior Sister Lu said helplessly.
She was the eldest disciple of the Green Snake Martial Hall in eastern Heyang City, in her twenties, a seventh-rank warrior. Her master had sent her here to see if she could try her luck at obtaining that weapon with phenomena.
Honestly, she thought her master was fantasizing.
This thing had appeared at Fragrant Mountain for over a month. Even sixth-ranks had come to look—but who among them had found it?
"Two more days, then in a couple days I'll take you back for a good meal." Lu Xi still understood how to read people's faces—after all, as the eldest disciple, she was the highest authority besides the master.
"Mm!"
The disciple responded sullenly and turned back to continue searching.
After the junior brother walked away, Lu Xi shook her head. Knowing they were all unhappy, she didn't say anything more, just glared at the white light bands in the sky.
But then, the light bands trembled slightly, contracting wildly toward a certain direction.
Lu Xi was stunned.
"This situation..."
Her heart jumped slightly. Was that rare treasure finally emerging? Who triggered it? Was there still time?
"Xiao Wu!"
Lu Xi called out. Her voice had just fallen when the young man ran over excitedly.
"Senior Sister, what's the plan? The secret realm emerged?"
"Mm." Lu Xi took a deep breath and instructed: "Go call the junior brothers and sisters, meet up with them, then go together to the secret realm entrance. I'll scout the situation first and wait for you at the secret realm entrance."
"Remember, absolutely, absolutely don't risk entering the secret realm first!"
"If we get separated, I won't be able to save you!"
"Yes!"
The junior brother was excited and immediately went to carry out orders.
Lu Xi held her breath and concentrated, gathering her spiritual power, grasping her spear, and swept away like a white shadow.
On Fragrant Mountain, if one looked around, they could see more shadows similar to Lu Xi's, all converging from all directions toward a certain place.
At the same time, in a certain room at the inn.
Clack—clatter—
The crisp sound of an abacus also stopped simultaneously.
"Huh?" The black-clothed person stood up uncertainly, looking toward the window.
Just then, the door was pushed open with a bang. The black-clothed woman who had encountered Mu Qinglan and the others two days ago burst in, saying urgently:
"Let's go, the secret realm is open."
The woman holding the abacus compass was incredulous: "I haven't calculated the situation yet, and someone already found it?"
"Whether it's an accident or whatever, we have to go in. Many martial artists have already started charging in. I had people watch and came back to take you there." the black-clothed woman urged.
After speaking, she added:
"You're an eighth-rank formation master—you must accompany me inside."
"I said I'm an artificer."
The woman muttered, packed her things, quickly left the room, and hurried toward the distance with the black-clothed woman.
○
"Oh no!"
A bit earlier, inside the secret realm, in an unfamiliar mountain forest, Shadow One angrily stamped her foot.
When entering, she had wanted to pull the young miss along to prevent separation, but the young miss seemed very resistant to this, insisting on following a meter behind her.
Who would have thought this would cause trouble.
'Isn't this the most ordinary type of secret realm? Why do positions change so quickly?'
Shadow One leaped to the treetops, gazing into the distance, extremely annoyed.
In ordinary secret realms, even entering five meters apart shouldn't cause major positional deviations. But who would have expected that just one meter apart would result in completely losing track of the young miss's position after entering?
Looking at the size of this secret realm, she instantly realized things weren't so simple.
This secret realm probably far exceeded her imagination.
'No good, I must hurry to find the young miss.'
'This kind of secret realm is probably full of dangers. If I'm not by her side and the young miss provokes some enemy, it'll be trouble!'
○
"Where is this?"
Very far away, the somewhat dizzy Miss Bai Yuyu supported the wheelchair and asked in confusion.
Mu Qinglan also frowned, feeling uncomfortable: "We're in the secret realm, just don't know where exactly."
Bai Yuyu shook her head vigorously twice.
After clearing her head, she looked around vigilantly, afraid some demons or monsters might suddenly pop out of the secret realm and devour the fragrant and lovely Miss Mu Mu in front of her.
"Don't worry, I'll protect Mu Mu!"
Bai Yuyu patted her chest in assurance.
"Sister Shadow One seems to have gotten separated from us." Though this was all her own calculation, Mu Qinglan still reminded her with confusion and surprise.
"..." Bai Yuyu's face stiffened, her confidence suddenly not so strong.
She asked somewhat worriedly:
"What should we do? Find somewhere to hide, or do you have some signal to regroup?"
Mu Qinglan shook her head: "No such thing."
Hearing this, Little Bai's heart nearly jumped to her throat. She herself was quite bold and unafraid of this secret realm, but she had the responsibility of protecting Mu Mu!
If something really happened to Mu Mu, she would... she would... oh no!
Bai Yuyu was usually somewhat carefree, but she wasn't really lacking in sense.
She still had the responsibility she should have.
Really nervous, she silently encouraged herself: "Bai Yuyu, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it..."
Mu Qinglan glanced at her—quite cute.
Suddenly, Mu Qinglan heard Ah Qi's soft gentle reminder in her mind, though she also seemed confused: "Mama, something seems to be coming."
At the same time,
Bai Yuyu frowned and made a silencing gesture.
She flashed behind Mu Qinglan, grasping the wheelchair handles with both hands, ready to flee quickly with Mu Qinglan at the first sign of abnormality.
Three or four seconds later, Mu Qinglan also heard the rustling sound of leaves.
Small monsters were coming!
"Sis~! Sister!"
"Sister! Sister!"
Eerie laughter suddenly rang out through the mountain forest. For a moment, Mu Qinglan almost thought she'd been captured and brought to Soul Hall headquarters.
A chilling cold wind struck them.
Bai Yuyu stared intently at the tree shadows, trying to see what monsters lurked in this secret realm.
Finally, the monsters emerged from the tree shadows. However, the moment Bai Yuyu saw the monsters, her pupils contracted, her cheeks paled, and between her ears she could almost only hear her own heartbeat.
"This is..."
Bai Yuyu trembled, swallowed saliva, bent down, and asked quietly:
"Ghosts?"
"Mm, they're ghosts."
Mu Qinglan confirmed, her gaze toward the opposite side quite interested.
At the same time, she silently added in her mind:
'Also good companions on my leveling journey.'