Chapter 13

Xie Qingrang almost laughed. She didn’t know how Yin Xianyu’s personality had been shaped, or how someone like her could later become so gloomy and withdrawn that she shut herself away and refused to see her.

Yin Xianyu found teasing Senior Sister amusing. Smiling brightly, she moved a little closer, only to hear Xie Qingrang’s voice beside her ear.

"Junior Sister, hold on tight."

Before she could react, the two of them were already surging forward at full speed.

Yin Xianyu hurriedly clung to Xie Qingrang as they rushed upward through a sky full of shattered stone.

It looked as though Xie Qingrang had been holding back all along, moving slowly only to take care of them; this was her true strength.

Yin Xianyu only needed a few breaths before she was standing steadily atop the stone formation.

Xie Qingrang didn’t pause. After setting her down firmly, she immediately went back down.

Yin Xianyu waited above. Before long, the three of them came up strung together like a line, holding hands and looking battered and bruised; Xie Qingrang tugged Bo Wenyu up by the collar and set her down.

The few of them stood there wincing, and when they saw that Yin Xianyu was completely unharmed, their resentful gazes drifted around the place, but none of them dared look at Xie Qingrang.

At last, everyone was here.

The mirror reflected their figures, and the ten guardian elders of the immortal sects all clicked their tongues in wonder at the scene in the mirror.

"Who would have thought that disciples of Xuantian Sect and Lingzhan Mountain would be the first to break through this level?"

"It’s not really that difficult; if everyone’s willing to cooperate, it naturally becomes easy."

"Immortal Lord Lingxu is joking. Xie Qingrang is bound by a pact with that one; with their spiritual senses merged as one, of course their speed and tacit understanding are beyond what others can compare to."

The speaker was an old man with a white beard, his face full of arrogance as he looked at Lingxu. As the enforcement elder of Falling Star Sect, he had always disliked sects like Lingzhan Mountain, made up of several smaller sects combined together.

He always felt they were getting an unfair advantage, with a bunch of rabble inside and strength scattered like sand. Aside from that genius Xie Qingrang, Lingzhan Mountain really had nothing worth mentioning.

Lingxu smiled faintly, showing no sign of weakness. "Elder Xinghai, what do you mean by that? Qingrang forming a pact with her junior sect sister is perfectly reasonable. Even if they’re bound by a pact, it can still be dissolved after leaving the secret realm, so there’s no need for you to worry over it, is there?"

Ji Xinghai snorted coldly, his words still sharp. "Easy for you to say. A genius of the Heartless Dao in your sect is truly being wasted. Who doesn’t know that those who form pacts on the Heartless Dao easily damage their heart meridians?"

The implication was that Xie Qingrang might not be able to keep herself under control and could end up developing real feelings. Lingxu’s smile faded; she looked at him playfully, and after a moment, to the astonishment of the onlookers, she uttered a string of words.

"Don’t tell me you’re jealous. Haven’t you tried to poach Qingrang behind the scenes? And when you couldn’t poach her, you decided to ruin someone else’s reputation? Elder Xinghai, I didn’t expect you to become more and more disgraceful with age."

Ji Xinghai flew into a rage and drew his sword, pointing it straight at Lingxu. "What nonsense are you spouting, you little brat? This old man will split you in half today!"

"Hey, hey, enough! Say whatever you want, but why are you actually fighting?"

"All right, all right, both of you take a step back. Enough, enough, don’t fight. Elder Xinghai, where are the disciples of your sect? Let me see—aren’t they almost... uh, your sect... why are all your sect’s disciples already out?"

"What!!"

Gong Puyu from Xuantian Sect quietly gave her a thumbs-up; the two of them smiled at each other. This Xuanxu Mirror could show the movements of the disciples inside, and if any important disciple ran into trouble, the enforcement elders could immediately step in to help.

Naturally, there were people who didn’t get along with Lingxu, but there were also those who did. Ji Xinghai no longer had any intention of openly opposing Lingxu at this moment either; staring intently at the image in the mirror, he found that most of the disciples of Falling Star Sect had already fallen into the Mistaken Killing Array. His heart clenched painfully, and he hurried out toward them.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to glare at Lingxu, who took it in stride. Only when she looked back at the mirror did a trace of faint worry hide in the depths of her eyes.

A flash of golden light swept across the figures in the mirror; clearly, they had passed the first level. The image vanished, and the second team immediately arrived.

Ling Yaoguang and Pei Jiuxiao came together as a team. Ling Yaoguang was quite capable; though her posture was a little disheveled, she still made it through without danger. The disciples beside her were not so fortunate.

Pei Jiuxiao glanced impatiently at Zhao Ruitian and Yu Yuanqing, who were supporting each other. "Was it really necessary to bring these dead weights along?"

A cold light flickered in Ling Yaoguang’s eyes. She silently moved a little farther away from this man dressed like a gaudy peacock, then stepped in front of the others. "No need for your concern. I have my own arrangements."

Pei Jiuxiao gave her a look and walked on ahead by himself. "As you wish."

After the few of them entered the formation core, they successfully obtained the golden seal, and the space shifted, taking them to the next layer.

This place was completely different from the Geng Metal Ground. Everywhere was thick with spiritual energy; lush forests blocked out the sky and sun. If not for the blue spiritual light blooming from the rich black earth beneath their feet, they probably wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all.

This was actually a place where wood and earth were combined.

The trees nearby were thick and luxuriant, crowding together so tightly that it was hard to breathe. One could barely turn sideways inside them.

Everyone had been scattered and didn’t end up together in the same place. That had been their own carelessness; none of them had expected that once they entered, every different barrier would require a magical artifact to move through together.

Yin Xianyu silently recited an incantation and tried to shrink herself a little, but the surrounding trees seemed to have eyes. The moment she made herself smaller, the gaps between them also narrowed, pinning her there so she couldn’t move.

After trying several times without finding a way out, Yin Xianyu gave up on the idea and started walking obediently.

The spiritual energy here was abundant and carried no attacking force. Being inside it made her feel very comfortable, much better than when she had been in the Geng Metal Ground before.

It was very difficult to fly a sword in the forest, and she didn’t want to waste effort hacking through all those trees, so she could only carefully keep hold of the hem of her clothes.

It took quite a bit of effort. Seeing that her sleeves had gotten dirty, Yin Xianyu was almost amused out of anger, and couldn’t help but think that entering the secret realm really did give one a brief taste of being an ordinary person.

She tried to send a message to the others, but no one responded. Fortunately, not long after that, she felt Xie Qingrang’s spiritual sense reach out to her.

The two of them were far apart, but now they had moved closer, and only then did they connect.

Xie Qingrang’s voice came through intermittently. "Junior Sister... don’t destroy anything around you."

Yin Xianyu was a little puzzled, but she obediently did as told. Rather than saying she was listening to Xie Qingrang, it was more that she had been too lazy to do anything from the start.

All the paths above were blocked. Crawling around through the forest like a bug wasn’t as good as waiting for Xie Qingrang to get in touch and then making further plans.

That said, Yin Xianyu didn’t simply sit still and wait; instead, she walked a little toward Xie Qingrang’s direction.

After half a quarter hour, the two finally met.

Xie Qingrang had a protective barrier around her, and had come all the way there without a scratch, utterly unlike Yin Xianyu, who looked disheveled from head to toe.

Only, her protective barrier pushed aside the surrounding trees. While it made walking easier, the trees behind her quickly healed once she passed, forming a wooden wall.

Yin Xianyu looked at it and finally understood why Xie Qingrang had told her not to attack anything. If she started attacking and split all the surrounding trees open, all those spirit woods would instantly press in on her and flatten her whole body like a giant pancake.

Xie Qingrang’s barrier disappeared, and she landed steadily in front of Yin Xianyu.

"Senior Sister, how do we get out? Should we look for where Senior Sister Bo and the others are first?"

Yin Xianyu stepped forward and naturally took hold of her sleeve. The glowing light on the ground dimmed a little, making it impossible to tell whether it was day or night now, or even to see the expression on her face clearly.

Xie Qingrang thought for a moment. "The three of them don’t have spiritual-sense contact with us. This forest is huge, so they won’t be easy to find. Let’s head toward the formation core."

Yin Xianyu nodded, but she really didn’t know how to proceed. "If we can’t attack these trees, and there’s no sunlight or moonlight, how are we supposed to tell direction?"

Her question was practical, and Xie Qingrang answered, "Cut down a tree and look at the direction of the rings."

Yin Xianyu: "Really?"

"Yes."

After saying that, Xie Qingrang looked her over and cast a cleansing spell over her. In an instant, Yin Xianyu felt much fresher all over.

"Later, I’ll cut the tree. You stay behind me. If anything changes, we’ll fly out."

Yin Xianyu nodded immediately and took Xie Qingrang’s hand in return. Their palms interlaced; Xie Qingrang glanced at her, wanting to say something, but Yin Xianyu didn’t notice at all. On the contrary, she thought their grip wasn’t tight enough and threaded her fingers between Xie Qingrang’s, lifting their joined hands with a bright smile.

"All right, Senior Sister. Go ahead."

Xie Qingrang pressed her lips together, trying to pull her hand back, but Yin Xianyu was holding on too tightly, and she was afraid of hurting her. After struggling for a moment, Yin Xianyu even thought she was testing the hold, so she tightened her grip even more.

Xie Qingrang had no choice but to let it be. Chiling flew out from her sleeve, slashing at the tree in front of them. Wood chips flew everywhere; the spiritual energy inside the tree surged out with overwhelming force, driving both of them back a step.

The entire giant tree crashed to the ground. The two of them hurried forward to look at the rings on the trunk, but before they could make them out clearly, the broken stump crazily sprouted new shoots. Fed by the spiritual energy, they rapidly grew and spread, gradually pushing open all the trees around them.

It all happened in an instant. Before the two could even react, their bodies instinctively flew out first.

But the expansion of the spirit wood had not stopped. It kept pressing against the surrounding trees, and the surrounding trees were all affected by the impact, causing the space where the two of them could hide to shrink instantly.

"Bad news; it looks like we really can’t cut trees here. Let’s go, quickly!"

Yin Xianyu dragged Xie Qingrang forward at full speed, spiritual energy surging under her feet and practically carrying them into the air.

The blue glowing light beneath them turned out to be mushrooms, one after another. Stepped on by her, they scattered "spiritual energy" everywhere, and much of it stuck to the soles of her shoes, making it look as though a pair of shoes were running by themselves.

But the trees behind them were closing in faster and faster; the speed at which the two of them ran couldn’t keep up at all. Just when it seemed they were about to be crushed into meat paste, Xie Qingrang quickly looked up.

The trees above were lush and towering, their tops impossible to see, with not the slightest bit of light shining through. Running upward was absolutely impossible. She hesitated only for a moment before once again drawing Yin Xianyu into her arms and punching downward, blasting a deep pit into the ground below.

The instant the two of them jumped in, the trees behind them snapped shut with lightning speed, sealing off the top completely. The whole forest was connected together; if they were trapped inside, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, both of them reacted quickly enough. Yin Xianyu pulled out the earth-escape magical artifact; this had been one of the basic five-element low-grade spirit artifacts distributed by Lingzhan Mountain when she became an official disciple, the Mountain-Piercing Thousand-Lantern Bell. Every official disciple had one.

The spirit lamp was enough to illuminate underground, and it broke through the relatively fragile soil ahead. Though moving below ground was not as convenient as flying on a sword, it moved surprisingly smoothly.

Yin Xianyu felt that she had been misled by the Geng Metal and earth grounds before, never once thinking of tunneling when Senior Sister wasn’t around.

She had wasted all that time for nothing. Who would have thought that burrowing underground was the easiest way?

The spiritual energy in the soil was much thinner than above. Down here, it was more like ordinary black earth, and it could even be said to have little to do with spirit soil at all.

Yin Xianyu quickly sensed that something was wrong. The two exchanged a glance, stopped moving forward, and said in unison, "There’s a problem!"