The four of them slipped into the Herb Garden.
The Herb Garden was indeed full of spirit herbs.
Lin Xiao glanced over them.
Most were blue-grade herbs, with the occasional purple-grade one, but most players would just sell them to the shop.
Zhou Yuan and the others didn’t see it that way.
They stared at the spirit herbs, their eyes shining.
“Oh my god, there are so many!”
“That’s a Three-Leaf Green Lotus! It’s fourth-tier!”
“And Blood Jade Ginseng! I’ve been looking for that ingredient forever!”
Lin Xiao stood off to the side, watching them jump for joy.
It was like an adult watching a kid go wild over a toy worth fifty cents.
He kept the same smile on his face.
“Go ahead and pick them. I’ll keep watch.”
“Senior Brother Lin, aren’t you going to pick any?” Su Qing asked.
Lin Xiao shook his head.
“I don’t need these. You can pick them.”
The three exchanged glances, their expressions growing even more complicated.
Liu Yun whispered to Su Qing, “Senior Sister, Senior Brother Lin is such a good person…”
Su Qing nodded, admiration shining even brighter in her eyes.
Lin Xiao heard them and twitched the corner of his mouth.
It wasn’t that he was a good person.
He really just didn’t care for these.
A single drop of Earth Marrow Spirit Liquid was worth more than all this junk.
The three began picking herbs.
Lin Xiao stood nearby, pretending to keep watch while actually studying the terrain.
A low growl came from the distance, and a giant beast charged out of the bushes.
An Ironback Azure Bear, late-stage Foundation Establishment.
It fed on the herbs in the Herb Garden and considered the place its private property.
Its red eyes fixed on the three who were picking herbs.
“Oh no!” Zhou Yuan cried, his face changing.
“It spotted us!”
Su Qing and Liu Yun went pale and scrambled backward.
Lin Xiao sighed.
He pulled the pistol Shen Tiexin had made from his Storage Pouch and aimed it at the Ironback Azure Bear.
“Bang!”
A beam of golden light shot out.
The Ironback Azure Bear let out a scream.
Its enormous body swayed, then crashed to the ground.
Zhou Yuan and the others: “???”
They looked at the fallen Ironback Azure Bear, then at the strange-looking magical weapon in Lin Xiao’s hand.
“Senior… Senior Brother Lin,” Zhou Yuan stammered.
“What… what kind of immortal art did you just use?”
Lin Xiao put away the pistol and casually replied, “Just a little trinket. It’s nothing.”
The three fell silent.
Their expressions shifted from admiration to awe.
“Senior Brother Lin,” Liu Yun said softly.
“You’re incredible…”
Lin Xiao: “…Mm.”
What could he say?
That shot had used up one-tenth of his spiritual energy?
Forget it.
He couldn’t be bothered to explain.
For the rest of the journey, Lin Xiao stayed with the three, walking along and keeping watch.
Whenever they reached a patch of spirit herbs, Lin Xiao stood aside and let the three pick them.
Whenever they came across a monster they couldn’t handle, he took care of it, then went back to keeping watch.
Zhou Yuan and the others went from feeling grateful to admiring him, and finally to being utterly devoted.
“Senior Brother Lin truly lives up to his name, High Wind and Bright Integrity,” Su Qing exclaimed more than once.
“There are so many spirit herbs, and he doesn’t even look at them.”
“That’s right,” Zhou Yuan agreed.
“He could’ve taken everything for himself, but he chose to share with us. His generosity is an example for us all.”
Lin Xiao had accepted this role by now.
All he could do was keep smiling, keep watch, and keep playing the virtuous good man.
After a long journey, Lin Xiao finally led the three to the place he’d been thinking of, taking charge as their team leader.
A hidden spring lay beneath a cliff.
Who would ever think to jump down there?
An ordinary person would never find it.
“Senior Brother Lin, are you going down there?” Zhou Yuan asked, looking at the stream trickling below the cliff.
Lin Xiao nodded.
“Wait up here. It might be dangerous below.”
The three exchanged glances and shook their heads in unison.
“No,” Su Qing said.
“We can’t let you risk your life alone.”
“That’s right,” Liu Yun chimed in.
“Senior Brother Lin, you’ve helped us so much along the way. Now it’s our turn to help you.”
Lin Xiao looked at their earnest expressions and didn’t know what to say for a moment.
In the end, he nodded.
“All right. Let’s go down together.”
The four leaped off the cliff.
They weren’t demon hunters, but that height wouldn’t kill cultivators.
The stream was shallow, only reaching about their calves.
They waded upstream for about 30 minutes before finally reaching its source.
At the source was a spring.
It glowed faintly gold and gave off a rich spiritual aura.
That was the Earth Marrow Spirit Liquid.
Lin Xiao’s eyes lit up.
The other three, on the other hand, looked dismayed.
A huge monster lay beside the spring.
It was a Golden Scale Python, at the peak of Foundation Establishment—the highest grade available in this Secret Realm.
The Golden Scale Python seemed to sense them.
It slowly raised its head and fixed its vertical pupils on the four of them.
“Peak Foundation Establishment?!” Zhou Yuan’s voice trembled.
Su Qing and Liu Yun went deathly pale, their legs turning weak.
Lin Xiao took a deep breath and pulled the pistol from his Storage Pouch.
“Get back.”
“Senior Brother Lin!” Liu Yun cried out.
Lin Xiao ignored her, raised the pistol, and aimed at the Golden Scale Python.
“Big snake, times have changed.”
A deafening bang rang out, and a beam of golden light shot forth.
Technically, an Electromagnetic Gun shouldn’t make a firing sound, but Lin Xiao had insisted that Shen Tiexin add one, saying it just felt right that way.
The Golden Scale Python let out a hiss and thrashed its enormous body.
It hadn’t died.
Instead, it was enraged, and it lunged at Lin Xiao with its jaws wide open.
Lin Xiao dodged to the side and aimed at the giant python’s gaping maw.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Eight beams of golden light shot out in quick succession, all striking the weakest point on the python’s forked tongue.
Its body convulsed violently a few times, then finally went still.
Lin Xiao stood there, panting heavily.
After nine shots, his spiritual energy was almost completely drained, and he could barely stay on his feet.
“Senior Brother Lin!” Zhou Yuan rushed over and caught him.
“Are you all right?!”
Lin Xiao waved him off to show he was fine.
His gaze fell on the spring.
A small pool of golden liquid sat there.
He walked over, took a jade bottle from his Storage Pouch, and carefully collected the spirit liquid.
The three stood behind him, watching without a word.
Senior Brother Lin didn’t refuse the treasure because he didn’t want it.
He was a gentleman who earned his wealth honorably.
Though Zhou Yuan and the others had no idea what the glowing golden liquid was for, they even thought it might be worth less than the herbs they’d picked along the way.
But Senior Brother Lin had taken only this one thing, leaving all the other valuable herbs to them.
He really was…
After collecting the spirit liquid, Lin Xiao turned around and saw that the three had red-rimmed eyes.
He paused.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” Su Qing shook her head.
“Senior Brother Lin, you… you should rest for a while.”
“You don’t look well.”
Lin Xiao nodded, walked to the bank, and sat against the stone wall to meditate and recover.
The three sat around him without saying a word.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the Secret Realm.
Xiao Luoyi stood in a pool of purplish-black liquid, staring expressionlessly at the corpse at her feet.
It was a monster in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.
She’d blown its head off with a single Universal Throw.
She glanced down at the Sword Intent Mark on her wrist.
The mark’s feedback told her that her senior brother was still alive.
But where was he?
Xiao Luoyi looked around.
She was in a forest where the trees towered into the clouds, blocking out the sky.
She didn’t linger and started walking.
After a while, voices came from ahead.
Xiao Luoyi stopped and looked toward them.
A few Lingxiao Sect disciples were there, two men and a woman, all dressed in inner-sect robes.
They saw her too, their eyes lighting up as they hurried over.
“Junior Sister Xiao!” The man in the lead greeted her warmly.
“What a coincidence! Are you alone? Want to travel with us?”
Xiao Luoyi glanced at him but said nothing.
“Junior Sister Xiao?” Another man came closer.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you remember us? We’re all from the Lingxiao Sect!”
Xiao Luoyi finally spoke.
“I’m not joining a team.”
The three froze.
“Junior Sister Xiao,” the woman said, forcing a smile.
“It’s too dangerous to be alone. We should travel together and watch each other’s backs…”
“I’m not joining a team.”
Xiao Luoyi walked past them and continued on.
The three stood there, looking at each other.
“What’s… wrong with her?”
“I don’t know… Maybe she’s in a bad mood?”
“Forget it. Let’s go.”
Xiao Luoyi heard them but didn’t look back.
She only wanted to find her senior brother.
She didn’t care about anything else.