Lin Xiao and Xiao Luoyi soon arrived at the entrance to the Secret Realm.
It was a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides, with an opening on the fourth.
A large, flat clearing stretched across the valley floor, with dozens of Array Stones piled in the middle.
The stones were pitch-black and densely carved with runes that flickered in the morning light, as if they were breathing.
Once the appointed time arrived, a portal to the trial Secret Realm would open here.
More than a hundred people had already gathered on the flat ground at the bottom of the valley.
Lin Xiao took a quick look and saw disciples from at least seven or eight sects.
They wore all kinds of clothes and gathered in groups of two or three.
Some chatted, some checked their belongings, and others simply closed their eyes and napped.
“So many people?” Lin Xiao muttered.
Xiao Luoyi stood beside him, naturally tugging at his sleeve with her little hand.
She said nothing, quietly taking in her surroundings.
As soon as the two of them appeared, their fellow disciples from the Lingxiao Sect noticed them.
After all, almost everyone in the sect had attended the Sword Discussion Ceremony.
There wasn’t anyone who didn’t know Lin Xiao.
And Xiao Luoyi’s distinctive light-purple eyes were so striking that it was hard not to recognize her.
Lin Xiao and Xiao Luoyi headed for the Lingxiao Sect’s designated area.
As one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Mountains, the Lingxiao Sect had its own section.
They’d barely taken a couple of steps when voices rose from the Lingxiao Sect’s group.
“Wait! Junior Sister Xiao… what level is her cultivation?!”
“Qi Refining at its peak… Yeah, definitely peak Qi Refining! Look, there’s a faint glow around her. That’s a sign she’s close to Foundation Establishment!”
“Wasn’t she only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining three months ago?”
“I heard she spent the last three months cultivating hard with Lin Xiao on Soaring Moon Peak.”
“Even so, that’s way too fast…”
Lin Xiao paused, the corners of his mouth lifting.
His junior sister’s cultivation growth was definitely impressive.
“What about Lin Xiao?”
“Qi Refining… seventh layer?”
“Seventh layer? That’s it?”
Disdain crept into someone’s voice.
After all, this was a Secret Realm for Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Everyone present had either already reached Foundation Establishment or was at least at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining.
A seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator really didn’t seem like much.
And comparisons were cruel.
They’d just praised Xiao Luoyi, and the two of them were both True Disciples of Soaring Moon Peak who’d cultivated hard.
So how was he only at the seventh layer?
But someone immediately objected.
“What the hell do you know? He’s Lin Xiao!”
“What’s so special about Lin Xiao?”
“What do you mean, what’s so special?”
“Three months ago, he rescued Great Chu’s Third Princess from the Shadow Pavilion all by himself.”
“Could you do that?!”
“That was him?!”
The crowd erupted.
Countless gazes shot toward Lin Xiao, filled with surprise, admiration, and suspicion.
“How come the great hero who rescued the princess is only at the seventh layer of Qi Refining?”
Someone had asked the question on everyone’s mind, and the entire area fell silent for a moment.
Then someone looked at the questioner as if he were an idiot.
“Are you stupid?”
“Real experts hide their cultivation!”
“Seventh-layer Qi Refining?”
“Who do you think you’re fooling?”
“He rescued someone from the Shadow Pavilion, so he’s at least in the late stages of Foundation Establishment!”
“Exactly!”
“He’s definitely hiding his strength!”
“I knew it.”
“How could a True Disciple be that weak…”
“That’s the bearing of an expert.”
“He keeps his abilities hidden…”
Lin Xiao listened to them, his smile turning a little stiff.
He really was at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.
No exaggeration, no tricks.
But judging by the way things were going, if he said he really was only at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, he doubted anyone would believe him.
He and Xiao Luoyi kept walking, unfazed.
Xiao Luoyi turned her head and looked at him, her eyes full of amusement.
In a voice only the two of them could hear, she said, “Senior Brother, you’ve become a great hero.”
Lin Xiao’s mouth twitched.
“Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not teasing you.”
Xiao Luoyi said seriously, “You really are a hero, Senior Brother.”
Lin Xiao couldn’t be bothered to argue with her.
Just as they reached the edge of the Lingxiao Sect’s area, they saw a large procession approaching from the other side.
Chen Tianhao was at the head.
More than a hundred people followed behind him, a huge, bustling crowd.
Lin Xiao’s eyelids twitched.
He knew Liuyun Peak had a lot of people, but seeing it with his own eyes was still a shock.
Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators, men and women, marched over in several neat rows.
Then he looked back at his own side… Just the two of them.
Chen Tianhao spotted Lin Xiao too.
He raised a hand to halt the group behind him, then walked over alone.
“Junior Brother Lin.”
Chen Tianhao cupped his hands in greeting.
Lin Xiao returned the gesture.
“Senior Brother Chen.”
“Junior Sister Xiao.”
Chen Tianhao nodded to Xiao Luoyi as well.
Xiao Luoyi dipped slightly in a return greeting, but never let go of Lin Xiao’s sleeve.
Chen Tianhao looked toward the stone array in the distance.
“The Secret Realm is about to open.”
“There are plenty of opportunities inside, but plenty of dangers too.”
“I’ve already reached the Golden Core stage, so I can’t enter this Secret Realm anymore.”
“You…”
He cupped his hands.
“Take care of yourselves.”
The surrounding murmurs started up again.
“It’s a shame Senior Brother Chen can’t enter the Secret Realm.”
“I was hoping to follow him around and get a few scraps.”
“Senior Brother Chen lost to Lin Xiao at the Sword Discussion Ceremony three months ago, then went down the mountain.”
“He came back with a Golden Core.”
“Yeah, that’s quite the story… Wait, how old is he?”
“Early twenties, I think… That’s terrifying…”
“Look at him greeting Lin Xiao.”
“They seem pretty close, don’t they?”
“That’s the bond between gentlemen!”
“You don’t understand how experts admire one another?”
“Just how strong is Lin Xiao, then?”
“Senior Brother Chen Tianhao is a Golden Core cultivator, and he’s being so polite to him…”
“Obviously.”
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“He’s definitely hiding his strength!”
Lin Xiao looked at Chen Tianhao’s back and thought, ‘Senior Brother Chen, you’ve really raised my profile.’
‘You didn’t say a word, but with that attitude of yours, my image as someone who’s “hiding his strength” is set in stone.’
The Liuyun Peak procession began moving toward its designated area.
As it passed Lin Xiao and Xiao Luoyi, countless gazes turned toward them.
Xiao Luoyi ignored the other gazes, but she couldn’t help noticing the women cultivators’ attention.
“Is that Lin Xiao? He’s pretty handsome…”
“I couldn’t see him clearly from so far away at the Sword Discussion Ceremony, but up close, he’s quite the refined young gentleman!”
“Look at his eyes. They look like they’ve seen a lot…”
“He’s got a nice figure too, and that True Disciple robe looks so good on him~”
Whispers drifted from the women cultivators’ group and reached Lin Xiao’s ears.
Lin Xiao kept a straight face, but he felt a little uneasy as the temperature beside him suddenly dropped a few degrees.
Xiao Luoyi’s expression shifted several times.
Her fingers tightened around Lin Xiao’s sleeve, and she unconsciously moved closer to him.
Her light-purple eyes swept coldly over the chattering women cultivators.
But the women showed no sign of holding back.
“Does Senior Brother Lin have a Daoist partner?”
“I don’t know.”
“I haven’t heard anything…”
“Isn’t that Junior Sister Xiao?”
“She’s always with Senior Brother Lin…”
“She’s his junior sister.”
“It’s normal for a junior sister to stick close to her senior brother, right?”
“Senior Brother Lin’s never said at any public event that he has a Daoist partner!”
“If he hasn’t said so, we’ve still got a chance!”
“That’s right!”
“Fair competition!”
Xiao Luoyi’s face darkened completely.
She suddenly looked up at Lin Xiao.
Before he could react, he felt a warm little hand clasp his own.
One by one, Xiao Luoyi slid her fingers between his and locked them tightly together, then raised their joined hands high.
Lin Xiao looked at Xiao Luoyi.
She gazed up at him, her light-purple eyes practically spelling out “You’re mine.”
The crowd fell silent for a moment, then started whispering again.
Lin Xiao stood at the center of the storm, feeling gazes from every direction.
If looks could kill, he would have been pierced by a thousand arrows already.
Xiao Luoyi blinked at him, looking innocent, as if to say, “Senior Brother, Luoyi didn’t do anything.”
Lin Xiao drew a breath.
‘Fine. Let it be.’
He didn’t pull his hand away.
Instead, he squeezed hers a little tighter and continued walking as if nothing had happened.
“He didn’t let go!”
“Does that mean he accepts?!”
“Boohoo, my dream is shattered…”
“Why can I never have the senior brothers I fall for?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever liked a senior brother this much, but why did it have to turn out like this?”
The two of them reached the Lingxiao Sect’s area and settled in a relatively quiet corner.
Xiao Luoyi finally loosened her grip, though she didn’t let go completely.
Their fingers parted, and she went back to holding his sleeve.
She stood right beside Lin Xiao, never leaving his side, her eyes warily scanning their surroundings like a little animal guarding its food.
Lin Xiao looked over the crowd as they waited for the Secret Realm to open, casually observing the people around him.
Lin Xiao didn’t notice the pair of eyes in the crowd staring fixedly at them.
It belonged to a young man in Inner Disciple robes.
He had an ordinary face, the kind you’d lose in a crowd and never find again.
But the hatred in his eyes was like a poisonous snake, sinking its fangs into Lin Xiao and Xiao Luoyi.