Chapter 361 : Seeing Daylight Again
Thousands of miles away, in the North Abyss desert, a place typically devoid of human presence was now teeming with people.
Half a month ago, a cultivator passing through by chance suddenly discovered changes in the spiritual energy of the area, suggesting a secret realm was about to emerge. He had initially wanted to keep this information to himself, but there are no walls that are completely impenetrable to news. The information leaked out and quickly spread throughout the cultivation world.
In just half a month, the once-deserted North Abyss desert welcomed large numbers of people. Since the secret realm had been discovered by an unaffiliated cultivator, the major sects could do nothing about it. Thus, forces from all directions rapidly gathered. By the time Jiang Mo received the news and arrived, numerous groups of various sizes had already formed.
Of course, Jiang Mo could have joined forces with others if she wished. Although she had been operating independently throughout the past year, upon arriving at the North Abyss, she quickly noticed the presence of major sects, including a significant number of people from the Xuanqing Sect who had arrived quite promptly.
However, Jiang Mo had no intention of joining the Xuanqing Sect members. After all, her Senior Sister had undergone tribulation at the Buddha Sect, and her identity was likely no longer a secret—no sect would decline having too many divine beasts to nurture. Regardless of her Senior Sister's original identity, as long as she returned to the Xuanqing Sect, they would certainly welcome and support her. But Jiang Mo didn't want her to become entangled in unnecessary karmic relationships; otherwise, she wouldn't have spent the past year painstakingly searching for treasures.
To avoid the Xuanqing Sect members and reduce unnecessary complications, Jiang Mo even disguised herself in men's clothing. Then, holding the awkward-looking Little Swan Goose, she positioned herself as far as possible from the Xuanqing Sect, blending into the crowd while waiting for the secret realm to open.
They didn't have to wait long. Just three days after Jiang Mo's arrival, the "secret realm" underwent changes.
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It was noon on that day, with the scorching sun blazing over the desert, heating the air until it seemed to distort. However, high temperatures were not a significant problem for cultivators; most remained energetic, ready at any moment for the secret realm to open.
Jiang Mo wasn't afraid of the sun either, but after waiting for three days, she had grown impatient. She took out the Puppet Heart to play with the Little Swan Goose.
As the person and bird were enjoying themselves, they suddenly felt a change in the surrounding spiritual energy, as if it was being drawn by some invisible force, beginning to converge toward a point in midair. The movement of spiritual energy stirred up the wind and sand, with gusts of fierce wind carrying grains of sand into the air. Standing on the yellow sand, one felt the illusion of being swept away by the wind...
For cultivators with established cultivation, this was, of course, merely an illusion. However, the Little Swan Goose was small, not only light in weight, but also caught off guard by this sudden strange wind. Unprepared, she was truly blown off the sand.
Before she could flap her wings, the Little Swan Goose was blown around in midair several times, apparently about to be swept high into the air.
Fortunately, Jiang Mo reacted quickly enough, promptly reaching out to grab one of the Little Swan Goose's wings, pulling her back and into her arms. Even so, Jiang Mo was quite frightened—heaven knows how much of her cultivation power her Senior Sister still retained. Such a small bird seemed like it could die at any moment. What would she do if an accident occurred?
The Little Swan Goose herself didn't feel scared. Although she usually just ate and drank all day, the spirit stones and spiritual herbs she consumed weren't wasted. She was growing stronger, and divine beasts weren't as fragile as one might imagine. When she was blown away earlier, she hadn't felt fear, only anger.
Embarrassed anger, furious rage.
However, seeing the little tiger so frightened, the Little Swan Goose, who was nearly bristling with anger, ultimately didn't make a scene. She spread her wings, hugged Jiang Mo's arm in return, chirping a few times while patting her with her wings, offering very human-like comfort.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo felt a profound warmth in her heart. After raising this cub for so long, she truly missed her Senior Sister—if her Senior Sister were here, they could fight side by side. If her Senior Sister were here, even if her cultivation was not as high as her own, it would definitely be Jiang Mo who was being protected. If her Senior Sister were here, after spending so much time together, would she perhaps be moved and accept her feelings?
While the person and cub were immersed in their own emotions, others had no time to pay attention to unrelated individuals.
Braving the fierce wind, the crowd of cultivators looked up. Under the intense sunlight, they saw that where the spiritual energy converged in midair, a dazzling light suddenly burst forth, so bright it forced people to close their eyes. For a moment, it was as if a second sun had appeared in the sky.
"The secret realm is opening!" someone shouted, but their voice was scattered by the wild wind, and it was unclear how many people heard it.
But whether they heard it or not wasn't important. Most of those present weren't entering a secret realm for the first time, and who wouldn't understand the situation upon seeing such a scene? Almost at the instant that shout was dispersed by the wind, several streaks of light shot upward, rushing toward that dazzling brilliance.
These were the quick-witted ones, as many secret realms had a limit on the number of entrants; moving a step ahead meant securing a spot. But more people didn't immediately act rashly, because no one knew the fundamentals of this newly opened secret realm. Going first meant gaining an early advantage, but if there was danger, the first to go would naturally be the stone testing the waters, possibly not even knowing how they died.
Everyone was waiting for a follow-up, at least to see the first batch of people enter the secret realm successfully before it became worth fighting for. Everything happened quickly, and almost instantly, the first person to rush out had already entered the center of the light.
There was no accident, no screams; he had truly entered!
Afterward, several more people successively entered the secret realm, and the crowd's eyes immediately brightened. Just as they were about to fly up, they suddenly saw the light intensify, for an instant even outshining the sunlight overhead.
Then the surrounding wind grew more urgent, and spiritual energy from thousands of miles around seemed to be drawn in.
The secret realm entrance in midair appeared to expand considerably due to the support of spiritual energy—originally just half a person's height as a circular ball of light, it suddenly doubled in size, becoming as tall as a person. Then it continued to expand, from barely allowing one person to enter at a time to a size that could accommodate several people entering simultaneously, increasingly resembling the entrance to a secret realm.
Seeing this, no one found it strange; more people flew up into the air, rushing toward that ball of light. Even Jiang Mo didn't want to be left behind and flew up carrying Yun Qingyue, determined to secure an entry spot.
But at that moment, an unexpected change occurred.
The gradually expanding ball of light once again burst with brilliance, forcing people to avert their gaze. Simultaneously, it expanded instantly at a hundred times its previous speed. In a flash, the world was enveloped by that intense light, and all the people in midair were swallowed by the light ball.
After that moment passed, the light contracted and disappeared, and all the people in the desert had vanished as well.
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Darkness, gloom; the sky here seemed eternally overcast.
Coming suddenly to such a place from somewhere bright and sunny would inevitably cause discomfort, even oppression. However, coming here from somewhere darker and gloomier would allow one to find light in this dimness and breathe a deep sigh of relief.
At the bottom of a certain steep cliff, accompanied by gusts of ghostly wind, something was climbing up from below.
If someone were present, they would see a huge White Fox laboriously climbing the cliff face...
She appeared to be just an ordinary fox, unable to use magic or fly through the air, relying solely on her claws to climb with difficulty. Yet to call her an ordinary fox would not be entirely convincing, as her size was clearly beyond what a normal fox could achieve. Moreover, looking carefully, one would notice the large plume of tails behind this fox—it was hard to tell at a glance whether there were six, seven, or eight.
Regardless of her peculiarities, at this moment, she could only climb using her claws. Because if one wanted to ascend from the bottom of this cliff, neither spiritual energy nor magic could be used; even birds couldn't fly up with their wings!
Beyond that, she had no more spiritual energy left for flight because what little remained was being used to protect someone.
That person was on her back but seemed to have lost consciousness, unaware of everything. They were bound together by a fairly sturdy rope, with a thin layer of spiritual energy shield enveloping the person, protecting them from the yin energy at the bottom of the cliff.
The White Fox had been climbing for a long time, her four paws gripping rock crevices as she moved upward. At some point, her paws had been worn raw, with fresh blood seeping out. Yet she seemed not to notice or care, continuing to climb resolutely upward. Until, breaking through the layers of darkness, she saw the gloomy sky above the cliff, and a flash of joy suddenly burst forth in her beautiful fox eyes.
Who knows how long it had been since she'd seen the light of day; the deep darkness was finally left behind.
The White Fox peered up, finally seeing the top of the cliff and her destination. A surge of strength suddenly erupted from her exhausted body, and she made one final push upward.
About half an hour later, two furry paws, still streaked with blood, finally reached the edge of the cliff. The climbing White Fox pushed hard against the cliff with her hind legs, and the entire fox finally rushed up from the cliff bottom.
She had finally left the dark underground; she had finally brought her back to see daylight!
However, the moment her four limbs touched the ground, she felt her legs weaken, as if all her strength had been exhausted in that final leap. Endless fatigue instantly swept over her, and despite her vigilance, she lost consciousness uncontrollably...