Chapter 28: Split Hollow Bow

The canyon was silent.

Luo Qingchen lay on Ling Xiyue’s back and curled her lip.

“This stupid dog definitely saw us fall into that pit and thought we were goners, so he just took off.”

“And to think I wasted those low-grade pills on him.”

“If I’d known, I would have set up a pot back there and turned him into dog meat hotpot.”

Ling Xiyue didn’t respond.

Carrying Luo Qingchen, she prepared to pick a direction and leave.

Suddenly, a piercing howl echoed from the end of the canyon.

“Woof!”

“Lord Dog missed you guys so much!”

A white ball of fur came sprinting around the corner.

Xiao Bai’s tongue lolled out, his face a mess of tears and snot.

“Luo Dog!”

“Eldest Senior Sister!”

“I was so worried when I saw you trapped down there!”

Luo Qingchen arched an eyebrow.

“Oh? So you actually have a consci—”

Before she could finish, her eyes caught something at the end of the canyon behind Xiao Bai.

Dust billowed.

The ground shook.

A pack of massive, frenzied monsters with crimson eyes was charging toward them, their heavy steps thundering like drums.

The sheer force of the stampede looked ready to trample the entire canyon flat.

Luo Qingchen’s scalp tingled.

“Holy crap!”

“You stupid dog, did you go and poke a monster’s nest?!”

Xiao Bai’s four legs moved like a blur as he scurried to Ling Xiyue’s feet.

“Lord Dog went to find reinforcements for you guys!”

Ling Xiyue didn’t waste any words.

She used one hand to steady Luo Qingchen on her back and used the other to roughly grab Xiao Bai by the scruff of his neck.

Her purple robes fluttered.

Ling Xiyue kicked off the ground and transformed into a purple blur, sprinting up the steep rock wall of the canyon to avoid the herd.

The beast tide roared past below, smashing large chunks of rock in its wake.

—

Outside the entrance to the Secret Realm.

The campsites of the major sects were joined together in a sprawling line.

The men from the Tyrant Blade Sect were bare-chested, practicing their saber techniques.

The female cultivators of the Heavenly Sound Gate plucked at their zither strings.

Disciples of the Joyful Sect gathered in small groups, their laughter and flirting constant.

The atmosphere had been calm, but suddenly, the massive array screen at the entrance of the Secret Realm began to fluctuate violently.

The previously indestructible sealing aura began to plummet.

The elders of each sect stopped what they were doing and looked toward the entrance in unison.

At the Hidden Sword Mountain campsite, Master Wangyou suddenly snapped his eyes open.

He stood up, walked to the light screen, and reached out to feel the flow of spiritual energy.

His brow furrowed tightly.

“Something has changed inside the Secret Realm.”

An elder from the Tyrant Blade Sect approached him.

“Old man Wangyou, the seal is weakening so fast. What’s going on?”

Master Wangyou withdrew his hand, his voice low.

“I’m not entirely sure, but at this rate of decay… in less than one month, cultivators at the Core Formation or even Nascent Soul stage will be able to force their way in.”

As soon as those words were spoken, the crowd erupted into a furor.

The Nascent Soul stage could enter?

If that happened, would there be anything left for the juniors in the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment stages?

The sect elders exchanged glances.

They all pulled transmission talismans from their sleeves.

Beams of light shot into the sky, flying toward every corner of the Xuanzhou Continent.

They were calling for backup.

They had to bring their sect’s high-level powerhouses here before the seal was completely broken.

The countdown for survival inside the Secret Realm had officially begun.

—

Inside the Secret Realm, halfway up a hidden cliff.

Ling Xiyue led the person and the dog into a deserted cave dwelling they had previously scavenged.

She quickly set up several formation plates at the entrance to mask their presence.

Once she confirmed the frenzied monsters hadn’t followed them, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Luo Qingchen slumped onto a stone bed, hissing in pain.

“Gentle! Gentle!”

“It’s breaking! It’s breaking!”

Ling Xiyue stood by the bed, expressionless.

She gripped Luo Qingchen’s fractured right arm with both hands and gave it a sudden, sharp pull and push.

*Click.*

The bone snapped back into place.

Luo Qingchen’s eyes nearly teared up.

“Fairy Ling, are you using a public mission to settle a private grudge?”

“With a technique like that, you wouldn’t even need a knife to slaughter a pig. One shove and the pig would die of pain!”

“Wait, that analogy… it sounds like I’m the pig. Forget I said that.”

Ling Xiyue ignored her, but when she went to set the left arm, the pressure from her fingers was noticeably lighter.

Luo Qingchen shut her mouth and leaned against the stone wall, circulating her spiritual energy.

She checked the condition of her body.

Her Dantian felt warm.

The **Deception Jade Slip** had previously absorbed most of the crystal giant’s body, and now it was continuously feeding back a stream of extremely pure spiritual energy.

This energy was not only accelerating the healing of her fractures but was also washing through her meridians.

Luo Qingchen could feel the barrier of her early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation loosening bit by bit.

‘This refining function is really useful.’

Once her injuries stabilized, Luo Qingchen opened her eyes and focused on her wrist.

The ancient, simple bracelet emitting a faint green glow sat quietly against her skin.

It seemed integrated with her, with no visible seams.

The material was neither metal nor jade, and the complex formation patterns flowing on its surface carried an ancient and dangerous aura.

Luo Qingchen’s heart itched with curiosity.

This was top-tier equipment dropped from a Core Formation-level boss.

She tentatively moved a bit of spiritual energy from her Dantian and injected it into the bracelet.

*Hum.*

The formation patterns on the bracelet’s surface instantly lit up.

A crisp, mechanical clicking sound echoed.

*Clack, clack.*

The bracelet rapidly split and reorganized on Luo Qingchen’s wrist.

The azure components spread up her arm.

In the blink of an eye, a streamlined, domineering longbow with a faint green glow appeared in her hand.

The bowstring was not solid.

Instead, it was condensed from pure spatial spiritual energy, radiating a terrifying sharpness.

Ling Xiyue, who was nearby meditating, was startled by the intense surge of spiritual energy and opened her eyes.

A flicker of shock passed through her usually cold gaze.

“The **Void-Splitting Bow**.”

Luo Qingchen held the bow up, examining it from all sides.

“You recognize this thing?”

Ling Xiyue stood up and took two steps closer.

“It’s recorded in the ancient texts of Hidden Sword Mountain. It doesn’t require physical arrows; pulling the string condenses spiritual arrows on its own. Its rank is at least at the peak of the Earth Grade.”

Luo Qingchen’s eyes lit up.

What she lacked most right now was a long-range attack method.

The **Five Elements Blade** required close-quarters combat, which was a huge disadvantage when facing massive monsters.

This bow came at the perfect time.

Impatiently, Luo Qingchen gripped the bow’s riser with her left hand and hooked the spatial energy string with her right.

She pulled back with force.

*Vroom!*

The surrounding air instantly turned turbulent.

Violent wind and thunder energy gathered frantically along the string.

Luo Qingchen had barely pulled it back one-third of the way when the pressure erupting from the bow caused spiderweb-like cracks to spread across the hard stone walls of the cave.

Debris rained down.

The power was immense even before an arrow had fully formed.

Luo Qingchen quickly let go.

The longbow transformed back into the **Azure Light Bracelet** on her wrist.

She swallowed hard.

“If I pulled this thing all the way back, wouldn’t it level the entire mountain?”

Ling Xiyue looked at the cracks on the wall.

“With your current cultivation, forcing a full draw would drain your spiritual energy entirely or even cause a backlash. Do not use it unless it is absolutely necessary.”

Luo Qingchen grinned.

“I know, I know. It’s a trump card.”