Chapter 119 : The Canglán Secret Realm
Beyond the light screen lay another world.
The little white cat's plunge through the entrance seemed to take only an instant, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself within the Canglán Secret Realm.
Perhaps due to her poor choice of entry posture, the little white cat landed face-first. Fortunately, she fell onto a patch of grass. The white ball of fur tumbled a couple of times, bumping into something before finally coming to a dizzy halt.
It was rather undignified, but regardless, she had escaped from Peak Master Qingyu's sleeve. So as the little white cat shook her head and rose from the ground, she couldn't help but boast to the system: "See, system? I escaped. Without your so-called escape package—those 8,000-point defective products can continue gathering dust in your mall!"
The event had happened so suddenly that even the system hadn't expected the host to escape so easily. It emerged as a light orb, wobbling as it floated out, about to say something when its mechanical voice suddenly doubled in volume: "Host, look out!"
Before the little white cat could react, she felt the ground trembling beneath her. With the system's warning, she immediately leaped away with nimble reflexes. As she turned mid-jump, she finally saw what was behind her—a massive beast slowly rising... standing taller than a three-story building, while she was just a tiny cat.
The little cat's fur instantly bristled, and her first reaction was to ask the system: "What the hell is that thing?"
The system baby was still the same system baby, completely ignorant about the cultivation world. It had spent the past year repairing its backend, with no time to continue gathering information. However, while it didn't know the beast's name, it could check its level.
After a quick scan, the system saw the beast's level and immediately panicked: "Host, run! This thing is level 50!"
Goodness, encountering a level 50 wild monster right upon entering the dungeon—Jiang Mo felt her entire tiger self going numb. She turned and fled without hesitation. It wasn't that she didn't dare to fight, but in a secret realm where even random beasts were level 50, she couldn't guarantee that after defeating this one, she wouldn't encounter another. And what if the next one was even higher level? If she depleted her spiritual energy, she might not be able to escape at all!
Perhaps because the little white cat was too small, or because the beast had just awakened and was slow to react, it didn't immediately give chase. So the little white cat escaped swiftly, running over a hundred li before darting into a dense forest, finally catching her breath.
While panting, she asked the system: "It's not following us, right?"
The system scanned their trail, looked at the panel, and fell into an eerie silence for a moment: "It's not following. But host, why are you panting? You're already level 47—what's running this short distance to you? Your heartbeat hasn't even accelerated!"
In other words, the host was being quite dramatic. Where the system learned such theatrics from was obvious.
Jiang Mo paused, gave an "Oh," and indeed stopped panting. However, the near-death experience at the beginning left her shaken. Now in unfamiliar surroundings, she instinctively heightened her vigilance, cautiously surveying her surroundings.
The first thing she saw was a dense forest of towering, robust trees reaching almost to the sky. Looking up, she found the dense branches and leaves completely obscuring the sky, creating a somewhat oppressive atmosphere that felt strangely familiar... In a daze, the scene before her overlapped with memories of the Cloud Ridge Secret Realm. Back then, she had been a newcomer, weak and vulnerable, struggling to survive among the towering trees.
"Host, host, what are you thinking about?!" The system's mechanical voice suddenly rang in her ear.
Jiang Mo gave a start, breaking free from the memory of weakness and coming back to her senses. Only then did she realize that the system had somehow pressed itself against her face, its bright yellow glow right before her eyes, making her dizzy.
Skillfully pushing the system away with her paw, Jiang Mo finally relaxed and complained: "I've told you not to get so close—it hurts my eyes!"
The system's mechanical voice was uncharacteristically solemn: "Host, something's wrong with you. I waved in front of you several times and called out, but you didn't respond at all. That's why I climbed onto your face."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo shuddered again. A sudden sense of crisis made her fur stand on end once more—the system wouldn't lie, but she truly hadn't seen the light orb earlier. When she came to her senses, the system orb was already smeared all over her face. Normally she wouldn't be this inattentive even if distracted, unless she'd been affected by something. Perhaps she should be grateful for her soul-bound connection with the system, which managed to awaken her!
What kind of bizarre secret realm was this? She had barely taken a few steps, yet encountered dangers at every turn.
The little white cat dared not linger in this eerie forest, nor trust her own perceptions anymore. She decisively asked the system to scan for a direction and fled. Fortunately, she escaped quickly. After she left, several small flowers suddenly sprouted from the ground, rapidly growing and blooming where she had been standing.
The slender flower stems swayed without wind, and the blooming flowers, as if alive, kept looking in the direction she had fled...
Having escaped the dense forest in one breath, Jiang Mo dared not relax her vigilance this time. She looked around with heightened paranoia, then suddenly remembered she could fly now. She hurriedly channeled spiritual energy to rise into the sky. Looking at the familiar pristine blue sky without a cloud in sight, she finally relaxed a little. While remaining vigilant, she said to the system: "Quick, find out where Senior Sister is. I can't survive alone as a single tiger."
Though the secret realm was indeed dangerous, Jiang Mo's predicament stemmed largely from her lack of experience. This couldn't be quickly remedied, and the system couldn't help much either. All it could do was help her find her Senior Sister as soon as possible.
The system's energy tendrils began silently expanding, extending toward the marker it had placed earlier.
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Yun Qingyue's entry into the secret realm was even more perilous than Jiang Mo's.
When she opened her eyes after the transmission, the first thing she saw was not the secret realm's environment but a massive bloody maw. Fortunately, with her extensive experience entering and exiting secret realms, she immediately dodged even in such a situation. Then, drawing her sword, she struck down with tremendous momentum, splitting the ambushing beast in two.
Foul-smelling blood sprayed out, but Yun Qingyue's nimble movements avoided it, leaving her snow-white robes unstained.
However, though she avoided the beast's fetid blood, the spreading blood scent alarmed other beasts—the one she had just slain was clearly not solitary. Similar beasts emerged one after another, drawn by the blood in the air, glaring at her with ferocious eyes.
Yun Qingyue raised an eyebrow, seeing that these beasts bore nothing of value—neither their fur, flesh, nor bones were worth her effort. Though she had no desire to engage with them, she found herself in the center of their encirclement. Finally, she simply spun her sword, cutting a bloody path until the beasts grew fearful and retreated, allowing her to leave the dangerous area with composure.
Soon, Yun Qingyue found a temporarily safe location. Though she had made killing her way through the beast horde look easy, those beasts were at least fourth-grade, with quite a few fifth-grade ones mixed in—far from as simple as she had made it appear.
She had already reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul cultivation, yet still faced such challenges. What about her other junior brothers and sisters?
Everyone had been scattered during transmission. While Yun Qingyue wasn't familiar with disciples from other peaks, Zhong Heng was a junior brother she had personally brought into the sect. With a moment of respite, her first thought was to contact him and see if there were any fellow sect members nearby.
Communication jade tokens were useless in the secret realm, but fortunately, the set of jade tokens prepared by Su Hao still worked. After infusing spiritual energy and waiting briefly, the locations of the other tokens became clear. Since each token contained its owner's aura, she could not only determine everyone's distribution but also know precisely who was nearest or furthest from her.
Yun Qingyue quickly discovered a pattern—those closest to her were Su Hao, Bei Luo, and Wen Jin. Their common factor wasn't being senior disciples but rather that all were at the Nascent Soul realm—Wen Jin had broken through recently within the past year. Meanwhile, junior brothers and sisters at the Golden Core realm were farther from her. Though they weren't clustered together either, they were indeed closer to each other.
Considering the Canglán Secret Realm's entry restriction of being under fifty years old, and noting this transmission distribution, the probability of this being a legacy secret realm was over ninety percent. If so, different trials for different cultivation levels seemed only natural.
This discovery allowed Yun Qingyue to set aside some of her concerns for her junior brother and abandoned the idea of seeking him out.
Since the trials differed, there was no need to interfere. Moreover, with the secret realm's arrangement, she might not even be able to reach him. After some consideration, she decided to head toward Su Hao's position. After all, this secret realm appeared fraught with dangers, and one person fighting alone was indeed inferior to group efforts. At the very least, after fellow sect members gathered, they could entrust their safety to each other, allowing for moments of relaxation instead of constant vigilance.
Thus, Yun Qingyue began journeying toward Su Hao's location, unaware that a fluffy creature was also making desperate efforts to reach her. Fortunately, she wasn't traveling particularly quickly. The secret realm's dangers were one factor, but occasionally encountering precious spiritual herbs and fruits that she wouldn't pass up was another.
After traveling like this for several days, Yun Qingyue's luck could be described as neither good nor bad.
She consistently encountered powerful beasts—either high-grade with deep cultivation or those dwelling in groups that were troublesome to confront. Yet simultaneously, she frequently discovered rare spiritual plants, either as rewards for defeating powerful enemies or because the beasts she encountered were guardian beasts of spiritual plants... After several such experiences, Yun Qingyue suddenly realized that these spiritual plants seemed to be rewards for her victories.
After once again swinging her sword to cut off the head of a fiery red giant python, Yun Qingyue shook the remaining blood from her sword edge, but this time she wasn't as composed as before—this giant python was of a very high grade, with cultivation approaching the late stage of Nascent Soul, and its bronze skin and iron bones made it quite formidable. Fortunately, Yun Qingyue was a sword cultivator who had comprehended sword intent, with combat prowess far exceeding cultivators of the same realm. Otherwise, she might have perished here today.
Even so, she had still been injured, her white robes stained with crimson—it was hard to say whether the sight was beautiful or horrifying.
Sheathing her sword, Yun Qingyue's expression remained unchanged as she took out a medicinal pill for healing and swallowed it. Then, with practiced ease, she began searching the surroundings. Soon enough, she discovered a sixth-grade Spirit Nurturing Grass in a rock crevice—quite a substantial harvest.
Yun Qingyue gladly picked it and placed it in a jade box. Just as she was about to turn and leave, she discovered that this rock wall seemed to conceal something more...