After entering the teleportation door, Shucao saw only an endless expanse of deep blue—an boundless space with no visible path at all.
“Be careful.”
An Qianhua suddenly spoke with seriousness.
“This space should be the spatial passageway connecting the secret realm and Shenzhou. If you get lost in here, there’s no telling how long you’d be trapped or where you’d end up.”
Hearing An Qianhua’s warning, Shucao gave up on the idea of exploring ahead.
She looked at the Spirit Purity Token in her hand and held it out in front of her.
Suddenly, a beam of spiritual light shot out from the token, pointing in a specific direction within the space.
“It seems that without this Spirit Purity Token, even if you found the previous entrance, you wouldn’t be able to reach the secret realm from this spatial passageway.”
After following the Spirit Purity Token’s guidance and flying through the spatial passageway for some distance, Shucao felt a pulling force.
Then, a flash of white light filled her vision, and she found herself in a dense jungle.
Unlike the outside world, the trees here grew exceptionally tall and were filled with rich vitality.
Flecks of spiritual light shimmered from these plants—a result of their growth under the influence of abundant spiritual energy.
“These plants are growing ridiculously well.”
Looking at the lush vegetation, Shucao couldn’t help but exclaim.
An Qianhua also peered out curiously from the Heart Realm at the scenery outside and said to Shucao.
“It must be because the spiritual energy concentration here is very high. The plants’ growth has been influenced by the spiritual energy to varying degrees.”
“No wonder it’s a major sect’s secret realm. But these are all ordinary plants. I still need to find spiritual herbs.”
Shucao rose into the air and observed her surroundings.
She realized that this so-called secret realm was terrifyingly vast.
Mountain ranges stretched as far as the eye could see, and in the distant mountains, faint outlines of pavilions and buildings could be spotted.
“I remember Yu Qing mentioning that this secret realm is used by the Taiqing Sect to train their disciples. Those buildings must be remnants left behind by the Taiqing Sect.”
“Should we fly over there to take a look?”
Shucao considered An Qianhua’s suggestion but decided against heading to the Taiqing Sect ruins for now.
“The others will probably head toward those ruins too. Although there might be some treasures there, this secret realm has been opened many times before. The good stuff inside the ruins has likely already been cleaned out by the three sects and some loose cultivators. So, it’s better for us to search for demonic beasts and spiritual herbs directly in these mountains and forests.”
“Mm, that makes sense.”
With An Qianhua’s agreement, Shucao began flying at low altitude through the forest.
At the same time, she spread out her magic power to enhance her perception of the surroundings, making it easier to search for spiritual herbs in the woods.
Thus, Shucao turned into a streak of pink light, weaving through the forest and continuously collecting any valuable spiritual herbs in the area.
Some demonic beasts attracted by her movements came looking for trouble and were promptly blasted away by her magic power cannons as if they were mere roadside obstacles.
Their bodies were turned into materials and stored in her storage pouch.
While Shucao continued her harvesting spree, An Qianhua cheered excitedly.
“Go go go! Hahaha, there are way more demonic beasts and spiritual herbs here than outside, and the beasts aren’t ridiculously strong. Gathering materials is practically effortless. It’s all shining spirit stones!”
Hearing An Qianhua’s cheerful voice, Shucao smiled and said.
“Sister Qianhua, why are you so excited?”
“Of course I am! A few days ago we were running around looking for spiritual herbs and demonic beasts just to complete that commission, but after finishing it we barely earned any spirit stones. Here, just flying around for a while brings good spirit stones right to us. It’s hard not to feel happy about that.”
Who would’ve thought Sister Qianhua really likes money this much.
This thought suddenly occurred to Shucao, but she didn’t say it out loud.
“Still, the demonic beasts and spiritual herbs out here are mostly low-rank. We won’t earn that many spirit stones from them. It looks like we need to find areas guarded by high-rank demonic beasts. Those places will have high-rank spiritual herbs.”
“Mm. But even if it’s just a mosquito leg, it’s still meat. Don’t ignore anything collectible we come across.”
“Got it.”
Just as Shucao was about to search for high-spiritual-energy areas occupied by high-rank demonic beasts, three beams of light in different colors suddenly rose into the sky from the distant forest.
“That’s… the three sects’ summoning signal?”
“It looks like the disciples of the three sects are gathering to act together.”
“They didn’t summon right after entering the secret realm. They probably split up first to explore, then used the summoning signal to call nearby disciples over once they found an area worth exploring together.”
“But they’re not worried at all that this will attract other people.”
“This is probably the confidence the three sects’ disciples have in their own strength. If anyone dares to compete with them, they’re sure they can beat them back. Sister Qianhua, what do you think we should do now?”
“We know very little about this secret realm, so finding places with high-rank demonic beasts won’t be easy. Maybe we can head toward where those signals are coming from. They might have already found such locations. Though the danger level will probably be higher. What do you think, Shucao?”
Shucao lowered her head and thought for a moment. If she continued collecting low-rank materials while searching for undiscovered high-rank demonic beast lairs on her own, it would be very safe.
However, relying purely on luck would definitely be slower than the large numbers of three-sect disciples.
So—
While she was thinking, several more beams of light appeared in different parts of the sky.
Shucao realized that the number of people each signal summoned probably wasn’t that large.
If every demonic beast lair required gathering all their disciples, the combat power would actually be excessive.
After all, when Hong Wenqing gave me the Spirit Purity Token, she said her own realm was rather low.
If mid-stage Qi Refining counts as low among those entering the secret realm, then the three sects’ main fighting force should be late-stage and those close to Foundation Establishment.
If there are mid-stage disciples entering, they are probably being brought along.
Thinking of this, Shucao began to consider what level her own strength actually belonged to.
Among the people I know, there are two at late-stage Qi Refining: Simeng and Yu Qing. Both of them possess spiritual items and consider me to be at the same realm as them.
Without using her spiritual item, Xiao Simeng couldn’t deal with the blood-energy-corroded Spiked Demon Spider that day. So under normal circumstances at the same Qi Refining stage, demonic beasts are stronger than humans.
Yet I have the means to break through the defenses of those two beasts that Simeng couldn’t handle.
Also, Senior Bai thought my flight speed was comparable to that of Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Looking at it this way, Shucao was surprised to realize:
I seem… pretty strong!
She immediately said to An Qianhua.
“Sister Qianhua, how about we go big this time?”
“Great! Now that’s the spirit! This is how cultivation should be—natural treasures belong to the capable! It’s time to give them a taste of what a magical girl can do!”
Hearing An Qianhua’s excited words, Shucao couldn’t help but smile wryly.
“It’s not that serious. We just need to get some good items and the Dragon Blood Vine that Wenqing wants.”
“What’s the harm? This secret realm belongs to the three sects anyway. They’ve been taking good things from here for a long time. It won’t hurt them to suffer a little loss this time. They’ll make it back eventually. Let’s earn big this once!”
After discussing for a while longer, the two settled on the strategy: “Raid the lair first, run after looting, fight if chased, then loot the people.”
“Then, Secret Realm Fish-Blasting Operation—begin!”
After hearing the strange name An Qianhua gave their plan, Shucao immediately set off, flying toward the location of one of the earlier signals, which seemed to have come from the source of a large river nearby.
“Although the Dragon Blood Vine has ‘dragon’ in its name, it’s actually because its sap is blood-red and its scent is loved by flood dragon-type demonic beasts, hence the name ‘Dragon Blood.’ Flood dragons like to live in large rivers. So that signal pointing toward the river’s source might indicate a flood dragon’s lair.”
While recalling the information about the Dragon Blood Vine from the medicinal herb illustrated guide and the details she had inquired about flood dragons, Shucao confirmed her target and sped up.
If the three sects’ disciples dealt with the demonic beast first, she would lose her chance to snatch it.
As Shucao flew toward the source of the large river, four cultivators wearing yellow daoist robes were lying in ambush along her route.
“Senior Brother, someone’s coming!”
“Really? Are you sure? My divine sense didn’t detect anything.”
“No mistake. My technique strengthens my divine sense and gives me a larger sensing range. Just now, for a brief moment, a figure entered my divine sense range before disappearing. They might be using some concealment method.”
“Well done, Junior Brother. Looks like ambushing near where others release signals was the right call. Everyone, get ready! If it’s a disciple from one of the other two sects, beat him until he crushes his teleportation jade slip. If it’s a clueless loose cultivator, then we brothers have hit the jackpot!”
“Yes!”
At the leader’s command, the other two also summoned their flying artifacts and rose into the sky with their senior brother.
Only the cultivator who specialized in divine sense remained on the ground, searching for the person who had entered his detection range.
“Strange. What kind of technique is this? I can’t find any trace at all.”
Just as he was thinking this, his divine sense suddenly flared up violently again.
“Found it! Where?”
As he tried to lock onto the position with his divine sense, he was shocked to discover that the figure had already gotten extremely close to their location.
“How is it so fast?! Does this mean I only detected them because they got too close? It wasn’t because of some concealment technique, but because their speed is so high that I couldn’t detect them until they were right here?!”
The moment he realized this, he was about to warn his senior brother about the opponent’s incredible speed when he looked up and saw…
“Fellow Daoist, since you’ve come all the way here, why not stop for a chat with us!”
These were the words his senior brother had shouted using spiritual power while flying upward on his sword just moments ago.
“Guwaa!!!”
This was the miserable scream that followed as the senior brother, who had flown high into the air on his sword, was sent flying by a streak of pink light.
“Senior Brother!”
Seeing their senior brother blasted backward an unknown distance, the other three yellow-robed cultivators cried out in unison.
The pink streak of light showed no signs of slowing down after knocking their senior brother away and continued flying straight toward the location of the signal. Its extreme speed made it impossible for the three to catch up.
That pink streak of light was Shucao.
“Sister Qianhua, did I just hit something?”
Shucao, who had been focused on recalling her destination based on the earlier signal, asked An Qianhua.
“I was busy thinking about whether my flight direction matched the signal’s direction and didn’t pay attention to the surroundings at all.”
An Qianhua thought for a moment and said.
“Someone suddenly flew up from below earlier. They reached about the same height and then got directly rammed away by us. Aiya, don’t worry about him. Who told him to suddenly fly onto our path without even looking where he was going? He can take responsibility for crashing into us. I thought it was a speed bump!”
“I see.”
After thinking it over, Shucao decided not to concern herself with the person she had knocked away.
After all, he had basically flown into her.
Besides, he might have been one of the three-sect cultivators coming to cause trouble.
Being sent flying after failing in a fight due to insufficient strength was only natural.
“I can see the source of the river!”
At An Qianhua’s reminder, Shucao suddenly stopped in mid-air and looked toward the distant snow-covered mountain range.
A large amount of water had accumulated in the valley between the mountains, continuously flowing out from the mountain body to form a vast group of waterfalls hanging high above the river.
“Let’s get closer and check the situation first.”
Shucao slowed her flight speed and tried to slightly suppress the glow produced by her high-speed flight to make herself less conspicuous.
At the same time, she released as much of her magic power as possible to scan the large lake in the snowy mountains for any other cultivators.
After a simple scan, Shucao discovered there were no cultivators near the lake’s surface.
“That means they’ve already found a way into the demonic beast’s lair they discovered.”
Shucao deduced. She then increased her speed again and arrived above the lake.
“Just as I thought.”
Looking around the lake, Shucao spotted a massive cave connected to the mountain wall at one end, opening directly onto the lake.
The entrance showed clear signs of having been forcefully enlarged by a large creature.
“This should be the entrance to some demonic creature’s dug-out lair.”
Shucao flew down to a low altitude and followed the river surface flowing into the cave, heading straight inside.
After flying inward for some time, she began to hear the sounds of intense fighting.
Deep within the cave, a massive deep-blue flood dragon was repeatedly surging out of and diving back into the water.
It stirred up huge waves on the surface while condensing numerous water arrows to attack the green-robed cultivators in the air.
The cultivators in the air continuously threw talismans and used their artifacts to attack the flood dragon in the water.
The battle appeared to be in a stalemate, with neither side able to overcome the other.
Shucao carefully observed the cultivators in the air who were keeping the flood dragon occupied and suddenly spotted a familiar figure among them.
“That’s… Qiushui?”